MSNBC: Mousavi to Set Up Umbrella Group of Reformists

Aide: Iran reform leader to set up political front

A supergroup of reform-minded political parties may be in the works

TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi will create an umbrella group made up of reform-minded political parties, a top aide told The Associated Press on Tuesday in the most concrete indication yet of how he will move forward after a government crackdown crushed street protests.

Mousavi has said he will seek a "legal framework" for continuing his campaign against the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which he and his supporters call illegitimate. But there's been no word on how he will do so.

His top aide Ali Reza Beheshti said Mousavi "has decided to set up a political front, made up of various reform-minded political groups."

...Rafsanjani is scheduled to deliver the main Friday prayer sermon in Tehran this week for the first time since the election, giving him a prominent political platform — and both reformists and hard-liners are anxiously waiting to see what he will say and how he will end his silence over the turmoil. Whether he lends his support will be a key in shaping Mousavi's future political front.

Rafsanjani's younger brother, Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani, welcomed the formation of the umbrella group by Mousavi but warned that "there is ambiguity over how the ruling system will respond to this phenomenon."

Speaking to the AP on Tuesday, the younger Rafsanjani, a leader of the moderate Kargozaran-e-Sazandegi Party, said fraud in the election has divided the people and the ruling system.

"They imposed a police atmosphere. They treated the people in a distasteful and disrespectful way ... people were insulted. A long wall of mistrust has been shaped between the people and the ruling system," he said.