The New Republic

According to sources monitoring Iranian state television, Ayatollah Khamenei has agreed to stretch the assessment period for election-related complaints by five days. Typically, the Guardian Council has ten days--and ten days only--to judge the validity of fraud charges, meaning that the investigations would've ended tomorrow (the complaints were officially submitted last Monday). But Council officials asked for more time to eliminate any ambiguity--and Khamanei acquiesced. Sounds like more stalling, but let's see what the extra time brings...

UPDATE: Freedom House has translated the Guardian Council's written request for five extra days:

To the Honorable Supreme Leader, His Greatness Ayatollah Khamenei,

With gratitude,

As you are aware, The Guardian Council, since the announcement of the Tenth Iranian Presidential Elections to this day, has been preoccupied with examining the complaints and grievances. This Council has carried out its investigation with full capacity and by using professional experts. The results have been announced at various meetings of this council, and the speaker of this council has communicated with the media. The maximum legal time allowed for addressing complaints is ten days, which ends tomorrow, Wednesday, June 24, 2009. For the purposes of greater assurance and eliminating any ambiguity, this council asks for your permission to extend the allowable time by five days.

With gratefulness and divine blessing for your eminence and all the officials of the Islamic Republic.

Ahmad Jannati

And here is Khamenei's response, also translated by Freedom House:

With gratitude, I agree with the request from the respectable gentleman. Please proceed.

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