Iran Opposition Finds New Ways to Protest

BEIRUT -- The three top leaders of Iran's opposition joined forces on Tuesday and their supporters began a three-day national strike, signaling a resurrection of protests even as Iran's president announced to the nation that the postelection turmoil was over.

Opposition candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, joined by former President Mohamad Khatami, met to plot strategy and issued their first-ever joint statement, calling for an end to the government's arrests and what they called "savage, shocking attacks" on their advisers and supporters.

Meanwhile, hundreds of opposition supporters quietly flocked to mosques or retreated to their homes to begin an unusual form of three-day strike boycotting workplaces, banks and the baazar.

In a novel attempt to outflank government restrictions, opposition supporters alerted one another to take advantage of an Islamic tradition rarely practiced in Iran called Etekaf. It calls for a retreat from worldly activities during these three days in the month of Rajab in the Islamic calendar.

The strikes come just ahead of a protest planned for Thursday to commemorate 18 Tir, the 1999 student uprisings that led to dozens of students getting killed. "By staying away from workplace, the brave people of Iran can show they will never accept this illegitimate government," wrote an Iranian columnist in Iran on a news Web site.

The opposition has also called for other creative forms of civil disobedience. Protesters have been asked to create a possible electrical blackout in Tehran by plugging in all their household electric appliances exactly at the same time, and to spray green paint on walls in their neighborhood -- moves that are difficult for the government militia to shut down.

The postelection uprising that rocked Iran starting in early June created the worst crisis the regime has faced in the Islamic Republic's 30-year history. It also appears to be leading to the first real opposition movement inside Iran. Previously, dissent was mostly limited to students and intellectuals, and exile groups were largely dismissed as out of touch.

But now, Iran's opposition is being led by three founders of the Islamic revolution who all have held official posts in the past, and two of whom -- Messrs. Khatami and Karroubi -- are clerics.

Their joint statement suggested the opposition could be restrategizing to show a stronger, united front intended to give demonstrators a boost and send a message to the government that they are not willing to back down.

"The wave of useless arrests must end immediately and all the people who have been imprisoned without committing the least bit of crime must be released," the statement, according to Mr. Mousavi's Web site.

Simultaneously, Iran's government on Tuesday announced an unexpected public holiday for 48 hours due to emergency level of pollution and a dust storm covering the capital. Some speculated that it could be an attempt to mask the impact of the public strikes.

The government ordered all industries and businesses in the capital to remain shut and only vehicles with emergency business to come out, though Tehran often faces high-level pollution and the dust storm is reported to be worse in cities to the south and east.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a televised speech Tuesday night, dismissed all allegations of fraud in the election -- in which he was announced the winner by a wide margin and hundreds of complaints of irregularities by other candidates led nowhere. Mr. Ahmadinejad said election was the "most free" and "healthiest" in Iran's history. "No fault was discovered. This election has doubled the dignity of the Iranian nation," he said, in his first national speech in two weeks.

In an apparent bid to mollify dissatisfied voters, he promised change in the government and promised to put economic reform and respecting youth at the top of the agenda.

As he spoke, cries of "God is Great" and "Death to Dictator" echoed in the darkness from rooftops in Tehran.

Write to Farnaz Fassihi at farnaz.fassihi@wsj.com