US Senators bluntly charged Thursday that Iran's presidential vote was rigged and vowed to help the opposition defeat curbs on news and the social networking Internet sites it has used to organize.
"The truth is, this election was rigged and the people in Iran are trying to speak out, and we need to help them," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said amid deep shock and anger in Washington at the deadly post-election turmoil.
Shooting back at angry Iranian charges of improperly meddling in its affairs, Republican Senator John McCain declared: "We don't take the side of either candidate. There seems to be some confusion about that.
"We take the side of the Iranian people to have human rights, to have the freedom that we deem universal," said McCain, his party's 2008 presidential candidate.
