After days of relative quiet, Mir Hussein Moussavi launched a broadside on Thursday against the nation’s leadership, an indication that the country’s political rift is far from over.

In his statement, Moussavi issued a rare attack on supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accusing him of not acting in the interests of the country, and said Iran had suffered a dramatic change for the worse.

Moussavi also slammed state-controlled broadcasters, which have intensified a media blitz against him and his supporters with allegations that unrest over the June 12 election was instigated by Iran’s international foes. He pledged to pursue his quest to have President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s reelection annulled.

“I am not only prepared to respond to all these allegations, but am ready to show how election fraudsters joined those who are truly behind the recent riots and shed the blood of people,” he said in comments that appeared on his website and were distributed to supporters via e-mail. “The leadership’s support to the Government under normal circumstances is helpful,” he said. “However, if the leadership and the President are the same, it will not be in the interests of the country.”