Following are excerpts from an interview with Sayyid Mojtaba Al-Hosseini, Khamenei's representative in Syria, which aired on Al-Dunya TV on June 20, 2009.

Sayyid Mojtaba Al-Hosseini: When we listen to what is going on outside Iran, we realize that those who have opposed the Islamic Republic for a long time are the ones who are inciting others, and they are the ones who are running these things. The countries that have opposed Iran, whether openly or not, like the Western countries, led by the U.S., are the ones who are now inciting and talking about the Iranian elections. They are exaggerating what is going on beyond its real scope.

Interviewer: So you think that what is going on is being exaggerated.

Al-Hosseini: Well said! It is greatly exaggerated. I came from Iran two days ago. I was in Tehran from Saturday to Monday, and the [demonstrations] were not as widespread as they are saying. The people who took to the streets in defense of Mr. Mir Hossein Mousavi do not constitute an opposition to the Islamic Republic. Only a few of them are.

[...]

What happened in this case was that the U.S. and the West were expecting the presidency to be transferred to an element with whom they perhaps felt more at ease. They viewed this as an opportunity to exert pressure on the Islamic Republic. Therefore, behind the scenes of everything that is going on, one sees the same people who have been lying in wait for the Islamic Republic. Check out the foreign news agencies, as well as the foreign ministers of England, the U.S., and some other Western countries. They do not bear goodwill towards the Islamic Republic.