In Iran, thousands gather for Rafsanjani sermon: Via Los Angeles Times.

The address by the reformist cleric, who has backed contender Mir-Hossein Mousavi, could add fuel to the opposition protests, but some think he might seek to ease tensions.

Reporting from Tehran and Beirut -- Reporting from Tehran and Beirut – Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran's premier power broker and a force behind opposition figurehead Mir-Hossein Mousavi, took the podium for Friday prayers today for the first time in eight weeks.

Thousands and some said tens of thousands of supporters of Mousavi crammed into downtown Tehran early this afternoon, some with emblematic green ribbons wrapped around the their fingers, to attend a potentially momentous sermon by Rafsanjani that could herald a new stage in the political drama that has followed the disputed June 12 reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

He began the sermon with a discussion of the Koran, saying he would raise the issue of the country's political troubles later in the afternoon.

Reformist leaders, including presidential candidates Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi and former President Mohammad Khatami, have vowed to attend.

Rafsanjani's long-awaited sermon could pour water on the ongoing fire of protests or add more fuel to the dispute within the ruling establishment and Iranian society over the election results, which the powerful Guardian Council confirmed again Thursday in a 39-page document posted to its website.

Ubiquitous police officers posted near the university, opposition supporters and hundreds of plainclothes pro-government Basiji militiamen are bracing for tensions during and after the prayers, when Mousavi supporters plan to chant slogans and march while security forces attempt to disperse them.

Many Mousavi supporters could be seen gathering along sidewalks near the venue to listen to the sermon and join the demonstration at the end of prayers. Among them were many women in tight overcoats grasping plastic bags with more conservative garb for the prayer sermon.

A self-described "party girl," 28-year-old Ameneh Saeedi, spent the last few days brushing up on her prayers, which she hasn't performed since she was forced to in high school. Saeedi, a secretary, said she planned to skip her daily makeup routine this morning and don an all-covering black hijab to be among the thousands of Ahmadinejad opponents showing up at the prayer service.

Saeedi joked that she only voted for Mousavi at the behest of friends. "One vote cost me a lot. I became a practicing Muslim again," she said.

Frictions between Ahmadinejad and his rivals, who say they lost because of vote fraud, continued Thursday. The president, visiting to the northeastern city of Mashhad, angrily blamed the West for the recent days of unrest in which hundreds of thousands poured into the streets.

"As soon as the new government is established, with 10 times more power and authority than before, it will enter the global scene and will defeat the global arrogance," he told supporters in a speech that was broadcast on state-controlled television.

Meanwhile, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization for the last 12 years, announced he had resigned his post. He is to be replaced by the U.S.-educated Ali Akbar Salehi, a former envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Ahmadinejad's economic minister, who was supposed to address worshipers before today's sermon, abruptly canceled, and Justice Minister Gholamhossein Elham loudly protested a decision by the Rafsanjani-controlled Expediency Council to bar him from serving on the Guardian Council while in the Cabinet.

Rafsanjani, a Mousavi supporter and one of Iran's wealthiest and most powerful men, announced this week that he would deliver a sermon Friday after a two-month absence. Cynics say the action signifies that he's backing down from his staunch opposition to Ahmadinejad and will try to serve as a mediator in order to bolster the faltering legitimacy of his old friend, hard-line supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

"Mr. Rafsanjani is the cleverest politician in Iran," said Mehdi Ataee, a Tehran shopkeeper who is a supporter of Ahmadinejad. "He knows what to say to appease both sides or simply ignore the hot issues and normalize the situation."

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