Iran's Guardian Council confirms election result (2nd Roundup)

Jun 29, 2009, 17:21 GMT

   Tehran - Iran's top legislative body, the Guardian Council, on Monday approved the result of the country's disputed June 12 election, confirming incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president.

State television station IRIB reported the council's spokesman, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati as saying that no major irregularities had been found, and that the council considered the results as official.

The dispute election result unleashed waves of street protests and violent crackdowns beginning June 13, after opposition candidate Mir- Hossein Moussavi said the poll was rigged and called for an annulment.

Massive police deployments were observed in Tehran Monday evening, in expectation of possible further demonstrations.

   Witnesses said an atmosphere of quasi-martial law had descended on northern Tehran, as police officers, riot police and large numbers of security forces took up positions.

   In addition mobile phone networks had been blocked again as of midday. Text-messaging systems have been blocked in the country for more than 18 days.

   The Guardian Council had begun a partial recount of votes earlier Monday - a move spurned by Moussavi.

   The council last Wednesday postponed the announcement of the final results of the June 12 presidential election until Monday, and gave representatives of Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, also a candidate, the chance to attend.

   Meanwhile, also on Monday, five local staff members from Tehran's British embassy were reported to have been released. Tehran says eight in total had been arrested, while British authorities say nine had been held.

   Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi that Iran was not planning to downgrade diplomatic ties with Britain or any European country.

   Ghashghavi said Iran was not after 'diplomatic adventurism' but all countries should respect the internal developments of Iran and not engage in any form of interference.

   The spokesman further said that Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and his British counterpart David Miliband discussed the issue, and the British foreign minister reassured Mottaki that London had 'no intentions for any interference.'

   President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on the head of the judiciary Monday to clarify what he described as the 'mysterious killing' of female demonstrator Neda Agha-Soltan, the Mehr news agency reported.

   In a letter to Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, Ahmadinejad said that the event had been widely used by foreign media as propaganda and that opponents of the Iranian nation had misused the issue against the Iranian nation.

 Her death, caught on camera and viewed by millions on the internet, turned the 27-year-old music student into a resistance icon and attracted international attention.

   The head of Iranian intelligence, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei hit out Monday at supposed foreign interference, saying that all attempts by the world's 'imperialists' to remove Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from power had failed.