Authorities claimed that the election was “healthiest” in the last three decades. Khatami announced that protesters should be “dealt with cruelly and without mercy”; he accused foreign journalists of fomenting the demonstrations. Mousavi came under pressure to drop his election complaint. Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem-Shirazi called for national reconciliation in the post-election atmosphere. G-8 countries announced that post-election violence is “deplorable.”
