Iran: Ayatollah Khamenei speaks

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been Iran's supreme leader since 1989

The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has told a large crowd at Friday prayers in Tehran that the protests following last week's disputed presidential election are unacceptable and must end.

The ayatollah addressed huge crowds at Tehran University

It was his first public appearance since he gave his unequivocal backing to President Ahmadinejad being declared the winner.

He said the demonstrators would be responsible for the consequences if their protests continued.

The BBC's Julian Marshall listened to the speech.

Julian asked the BBC's John Leyne in Tehran for his reaction.

The BBC's Imtiaz Tyab has been monitoring social networking sites for Iranian reaction to the Ayatollah's speech as well as e-mails and other comments received by the BBC.

Ghanbar Naderi is the political editor of Kayhan, a conservative newspaper in Tehran.

What did he make of the Ayatollah's speech?

Maziar Bahari is a journalist and documentary film maker in Tehran.

Will the opposition supporters in Iran heed the ayatollah's call and stand down?

First broadcast 19 June 2009