Ayatollah Khamenei approves Ahmadinejad's second term as President

Iran's Supreme Leader endorsed the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a ceremony boycotted by leading moderates in protest at a disputed poll that plunged Iran into its worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Two former presidents, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, who backed defeated candidate Mirhossein Mousavi, did not attend yesterday's ceremony although they had been present at such events in the past, Iranian media reported.

"I am endorsing the presidency of this brave, hard-working and wise man as the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran," Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, in praise of Mr Ahmadinejad who will be sworn in by Parliament tomorrow.

After the ceremony hundreds of Mousavi supporters, some of them honking car horns, headed towards a central Tehran square where they planned to protest. Dozens of riot police and Basij militia had assembled to prevent any demonstration, the witness said.

Other leading moderate figures joined Mr Rajsanfani, who has declared the country in crisis, and Mr Khatami in missing the formal endorsement.

Mr Ahmadinejad's victory for a second term led reformists and moderate candidates Mr Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi to accuse the government of electoral fraud, caused violent protests and exposed deep schisms within Iran's clerical and political elite.

The President now faces the difficult task of assembling a Cabinet which is acceptable to the mostly conservative Parliament, which may object if he just picks members of his inner circle. Parliament has in the past rejected some of Mr Ahmadinejad's Cabinet choices.

The Supreme Leader endorsed the June 12 election result and demanded an end to the protests at which more than 20 people have been killed, but in a challenge to his authority Mr Mousavi and Mr Karoubi said the next government would be illegitimate.

At the ceremony Ayatollah Khamenei criticised Mr Ahmadinejad's opponents, saying "some elites failed (the political test of) the election", State TV said. The President told rivals on Friday that trying to split him from Ayatollah Khamenei was futile because they were like father and son.

In an apparent effort to deter further street protests, Iran on Saturday put 100 protesters, including senior moderate figures, on trial. They face a range of charges, including acting against national security, which is punishable by death.

Rights groups say hundreds of people, including senior pro-reform politicians, journalists and lawyers, have been detained since the election. The mass trial has no precedent in revolutionary Iran's 30-year history and resumes on Thursday.

Leading reformers, including Mr Khatami, have rejected what they say is a show trial and accused the government of extracting confessions from some defendants under duress, adding the trials violated the constitution. Many of the defendants spent weeks in jail without access to lawyers, Mr Mousavi said on Sunday. He said the trial was "an awkward preparation" for the start of Mr Ahmadinejad's new term.

Even some hardliners have criticised the trial and the official portrayal of the protesters as people determined to overthrow Iran's system of government.

Without Ayatollah Khamenei's support, Mr Ahmadinejad's choice of cabinet could run into trouble as a number of lawmakers have been critical of Mr Ahmadinejad's decisions since the vote.