Police out in force as result is upheld

Iranian police were out in force across the capital Tehran yesterday as the authorities upheld the official results of this month's fiercely-disputed presidential election over opposition protests.

State TV announced that, after a "thorough and comprehensive investigation," the official electoral watchdog had upheld the re-election of hardline incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a vote denounced by his main challenger, former premier Mir Hossein Mousavi, as a "shameful fraud".

The head of the Guardians Council, Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, concluded that "the majority of the objections were not deemed infringements or fraud and were only minor irregularities that occur in each election," the TV reported.

Mr Mousavi's supporters had boycotted the partial recount of the vote carried out by the council following the complaints of the defeated candidates.

The opposition had demanded a complete rerun and has staged massive public demonstrations in a dispute that has shaken the foundations of the Islamic regime, with unprecedented criticism of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

According to the official results, Mr Ahmadinejad won by a thumping majority of 63 per cent against just 34 per cent for Mr Mousavi, a gap of 11 million votes.

Witnesses said hundreds of policemen and Basij militiamen carrying sticks were deployed in Tehran's main public squares to prevent any recurrence of the opposition protests over the conduct of the election that have broken out since the June 12 poll.

They said security forces were also randomly checking the boots of cars and vehicles, and checking the identification cards of drivers.

Western governments meanwhile expressed outrage at the continued detention by the Iranian authorities of four locally hired staff of the British embassy in Tehran.

Earlier in the day, Iran freed five of the nine embassy staffers it had initially detained, but British Prime Minister Gordon Brown slammed the arrests as "unacceptable, unjustified and without foundation" and demanded the immediate release of the other four.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described Iran's treatment of the British embassy staff as "deplorable" and said Washington was following the situation "with great concern."

Speaking after talks with Brown in London, European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso expressed his "full solidarity" with Britain over the arrests.

"Intimidation and harassment are unacceptable and they will be met with a strong collective European response," he warned.

Iran has repeatedly accused the West, particularly Britain and the United States, of "meddling" as its Islamic rulers struggle to contain the most serious upheaval since the revolution 30 years ago.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said Tehran had no plans to close the British mission or other embassies or downgrade diplomatic ties with foreign nations, despite Iran's repeated accusations of foreign interference.