President Ahmadinejad: This Is New Beginning for Iran

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has criticized the stance adopted by certain political figures following the June 12 presidential election.

In a bid to win over skeptics, Ahmadinejad promised to accomplish "higher and grander things" during his second term, saying his government would focus on improving the economy. "This is a new beginning for Iran ... we have entered a new era," he said. "We must all join hands to achieve Iran's lofty goals."

In a speech broadcast on IRIB channel one late Tuesday, President Ahmadinejad slammed 'foreign meddling' in Iran's internal affairs following the presidential election, saying the massive turnout of the Iranian nation had upset 'arrogant powers'.

Tehran has accused certain Western countries and their media of fueling post-election unrest in Iran.

"Unfortunately, some people inside Iran collaborated with them. They repeated the comments made by certain Western countries," Ahmadinejad said.

He added that the defeated candidates rejected the election results without offering any proof of irregularities in the electoral process.

President Ahmadinejad invited the nation to 'unity and solidarity' now that the file on the election has been closed and the electoral watchdog, the Guardian Council, has confirmed his re-election.

Iran became the scene of opposition rallies following the announcement of Ahmadinejad as the winner of the election with almost two-third of the votes. Defeated candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi rejected the result as fraudulent and demanded a re-run.

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