Other prominent opposition figures made calls for protesters to defy the authorities.
"We call on all the supporters of reform and change to have an overwhelming presence so that their cries are a protest at cheating and lying and backing for it at the highest levels of the system," said a statement on Karroubi's website.
"May the massive crowd make all officials -- who do not attach the slightest value to the people's votes -- tremble," the statement said.
The scene for Khamenei's highly anticipated Friday sermon suggested that moderate figures in the Iranian establishment had been further marginalized in political infighting. Not only was Mousavi absent; so too were prominent moderates such as Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, Khatami and former Tehran Mayor Gholamhossein Karbaschi.
Ahmadinejad sat in the front row next to parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani, a conservative who is often highly critical of the president.
Mashallah Shamsolvaezin, a reformist writer and human rights activist, said Khamenei had made a political misstep by so openly allying with Ahmadinejad, and predicted that people would come out in even greater numbers because of the speech.
"If taking people into the streets is wrong, and the leader today called it strong-arming, then what is his mobilizing of people during Friday prayers?" he said. "I think the presence of the people will continue in the streets, and intimidating people is no way to solve the disputes."
Among the young green-clad men and women who make up the heart of the movement, there was fear mixed with resilience.
The fear of bloodshed has failed to stop previous rallies. According to a count taken by a Western embassy in Tehran, at least 33 people in the capital and as many as 100 nationwide have been killed in violence between protesters and club-wielding Basiji and Ansar-e Hezbollah militiamen over the last week, including students killed in their sleep. One analyst said that protests in the cities of Tabriz, Esfahan, Shiraz and Kermanshah had already been crushed.
Amnesty International issued a bulletin describing Khamenei's speech as giving "a green light to security forces to violently handle protesters exercising their right to demonstrate and express their views."
One 29-year-old woman, sobbing with dismay at Khamenei's tone, said she would nevertheless gather her courage and attend the march.
"This is how countries that have freedom and democracy get it," said the woman, who asked that her name not be published. "They have to fight and die for it."
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daragahi@latimes.com
Mostaghim is a special correspondent.
