In his first public statement since being placed under house arrest for ten years, opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi called for fundamental reforms to address the Islamic Republic's "flaws and deficiencies." In an uncommon break from the government's isolation, Karroubi, a former speaker of parliament who stood for president in 2009, was allowed to give a brief address to a small gathering of reformists.

For their positions in the opposition Green Movement, Karroubi and former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi have been under house arrest since 2011. In the 2009 presidential election, Karroubi and Mousavi competed against incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Millions of Iranians turned out in cities around the country to protest the disputed election results, and the two became symbolic leaders. They were branded as traitors and seditionists by hardliners.

Karroubi spoke at the residence of Gholamhossein Karbaschi, a former mayor of Tehran and leader of the Executives of Construction party who was imprisoned in 1999 on corruption allegations before being released. Karroubi expressed gratitude to the government for permitting him to attend the mourning service for the Prophet Mohammed's death and the martyrdom of his grandson, Hassan ibn Ali, a key figure in early Shiism. Ensaf News published a video of Karroubi's eight-minute speech on October 4th.