Two of Iran’s opposition leaders, Mohammed Khatami and Mehdi Karroubi, appear to have dropped their demand for a new presidential election, saying that while they still believe the vote in June was fraudulent, they accept Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the head of state, according to Iranian news services.

The statements from Mr. Karroubi, a former presidential candidate and speaker of Parliament, and Mr. Khatami, a former president, follow the lead of Mir Hussein Moussavi, another opposition leader, who on New Year’s Eve criticized the government but offered a prescription for solving the political crisis that for the first time did not include holding a new vote.

That backhanded endorsement of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s standing, and the decisions of Ayatollah Khamenei, came as a letter written to the supreme leader by Mr. Khatami was made public. The letter, like Mr. Moussavi’s New Year’s Eve statement, called on the government to end the political crisis by releasing political prisoners, opening the political process and battling extremism.

“The reform movement and I personally recognize the current administration of Mr. Ahmadinejad, but we must combat extremism,” Mr. Khatami wrote, according to the Irandokht news Web site.