Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said it is not known whether opposition leaders who took part in the wave of postelection unrest were backed by the US and Britain, Iran's official news agency IRNA reported Thursday.
The report quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying that he is not accusing the opposition leaders of being "stooges" of the US and Britain because such charges haven't been proven.
Khamenei's comments appeared to be a significant shift from earlier charges by the cleric-led regime which has tried to paint the opposition and the post-election unrest as being backed by the West.
However Khamanei said that there was no doubt the postelection unrest was "calculated," by enemies of Iran in advance.
