Iran’s Rafsanjani sees ‘bitterness’ but ‘no power struggle’

Iran’s ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Saturday that following demonstrations triggered by the June 12 presidential election results, there is no power struggle.

“I don't think that (anybody with a) vigilant conscience is satisfied with the current situation,” the Iranian Labor News Agency quoted Rafsanjani as saying to members of the families of several detainees.

Rafsanjani, an opponent of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, openly backed opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi in the disputed elections.

This comes a week after Iran’s election authority, the Guardian Council, said it had found no major irregularities in the election and called its result official. “People from across the country participated in the elections, with excitement," ILNA quoted Rafsanjani as saying. “But unfortunately the events that occurred after that and the difficulties created for some, left a bitter taste,” he added.