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Tehran rules out annulling vote as world alarm rises

Iran ruled out canceling the disputed presidential vote as the world voiced increasing alarm at the violent crackdown on opposition demonstrators posing the most serious challenge to the Islamic regime in 30 years.

“In the recent presidential election we witnessed no major fraud or breach,” the spokesman for election watchdog the Guardian Council, Abbasali Kadkhodai, said on English-language state television Press TV. “Therefore, there is no possibility of an annulment taking place.”

The opposition has been staging almost daily rallies to protest alleged fraud and widespread irregularities in the June 12 election, which returned hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power for another four years.

World leaders are calling for an immediate halt to state violence against the protesters, but the Iranian authorities have fired back, accusing Western governments, particularly the UK and the US, of meddling.

The state media said at least 17 people had been killed and many more wounded in the unrest that has convulsed the nation for 11 days, shaking the very pillars of the Islamic republic.

Hundreds of protesters and prominent reformists and journalists have been rounded up by the authorities — even figures close to top regime officials, including former president and powerful cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

In the latest crackdown on the media, Iran has arrested a journalist of Greek origin working for the "Washington Times," the Fars news agency said.

Foreign media have been restricted in their reporting of the crisis, with bans on covering demonstrations, and some Western outlets have been accused of fomenting the violence and acting as the “mouthpiece of rioters.”

Iran has already expelled the BBC's Tehran correspondent and ordered the closure of al-Arabiya television's office, while "Newsweek" said a Canadian journalist working for the magazine has been detained without charge.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced growing concern about the violence and urged “an immediate stop to the arrests, threats and use of force.”

The EU on Monday rejected Iran’s claims of interference as “baseless and unacceptable” but voiced deep concern about the continuing violence.

And in the latest European moves, France and Sweden both summoned the Iranian ambasadors in their capitals, with Paris protesting at the “brutal repression” of demonstrators.

Also See: ANALYSIS: Iran's headlong dash to find foreign scapegoats
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