Mousavi demands election result be annulled

Defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi demanded yesterday that Iran's presidential election be annulled and urged more protests, while tens of thousands of people hailed the victory of the hardline Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Mr Mousavi's supporters again took to the streets after violence on Saturday, clashing with police in protests that have underscored political rifts exposed by Friday's disputed vote.

In a statement on his website, Mr Mousavi said he had formally asked the Guardian Council, a legislative body, to cancel the election result. "I urge you, Iranian nation, to continue your nationwide protests in a peaceful and legal way," he added.

The unrest that has rocked Tehran and other cities since results were declared on Saturday is the sharpest expression of discontent against the Islamic Republic's leadership for years.

The election result has disconcerted Western powers trying to induce the world's fifth biggest oil exporter to curb its nuclear programme. US President Barack Obama had urged Iran's leadership "to unclench its fist" for a new start in ties.

US Vice President Joe Biden cast doubt on the election result, but said Washington was reserving its position for now.

"It sure looks like the way they're suppressing speech, the way they're suppressing crowds, the way in which people are being treated, that there's some real doubt," he told NBC's "Meet the Press" when asked if Mr Ahmadinejad had won the vote.

Mr Ahmadinejad appeared amid a sea of red, white and green Iranian flags waved by partisans thronging Tehran's Vali-e Asr square, some perched on rooftops or cars, to applaud the victory he achieved with a surprising 63 per cent of the vote.

"Some... say the vote is disrupted, there has been a fraud. Where are the irregularities in the election?" he said in a speech that the crowd punctuated with roars of approval.

"Some people want democracy only for their own sake. Some want elections, freedom, a sound election. They recognise it only as long as the result favours them," he declared. Tarverdi Chegine, a 35-year-old government employee, said: "We have a very brave President. I love him."

He said anti-Ahmadinejad protesters were not true Iranians. "They belong to the West. They belong to Bush. We are anti-Bush."

After the rally, witnesses said Mr Ahmadinejad and Mr Mousavi supporters clashed on a main Tehran street. A Reuters reporter saw fires and broken glass on the street, people throwing stones, and riot police on motorbikes. One policeman was beating people on the pavement with a rubber truncheon.

About 2,000 students at the nearby Tehran University, some with Mousavi posters, others covering their faces with bandanas, chanted anti-government slogans and taunted riot police across the road outside. Some threw stones at police when they chased protesters who had tried to gather outside the university gates.

Abdul Reza, 26, standing behind the gates and watching as police charged the crowd outside, said: "Mousavi is the real president of Iran. Ahmadinejad did not win the election."

Mr Ahmadinejad described the election as "clean and healthy", dismissing complaints by defeated candidates as sour grapes.

"They may be upset by their failure," he told a news conference. "They spent a lot of money to make propaganda (and) expected to win, so it is natural they are disappointed."

He consigned Iran's nuclear dispute to the past, signalling no nuclear policy change in his second term, and warned that any country that attacked his own would regret it. "Who dares to attack Iran? Who even dares to think about it?" he asked. France signalled its concern over what was happening in Iran, which Henri Guaino, a top adviser to President Nicolas Sarkozy, said "is clearly not good news for anyone, neither for the Iranians nor for peace and stability in the world".