West urges Iran to allow protests, recount votes

LONDON (Reuters) - Iran must allow peaceful protests against its disputed presidential election and ensure a fair result, Western governments said on Sunday, rejecting charges they were interfering in Iranian affairs.

Foreign countries have played no part in supporting the violent street protests that erupted in Iran after its June 12 election, Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.

He dismissed comments from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling on the United States and Britain to stop interfering in the Islamic Republic's internal affairs.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Iranian authorities to recount votes, refrain from using violence against demonstrators, free detained opposition members and allow free media reporting of the protests.

"Germany is on the side of the Iranian people, who want to exercise their rights of freedom of expression and free assembly," she said in a statement.

"One could eliminate doubt, very well I believe, by simply repeating the count transparently and if needed also with international observers. And then trust could grow," she later told reporters.

Mass protests erupted in Tehran after official figures showed hardline incumbent Ahmadinejad had won the election by a landslide. His main opponent, reformer Mirhossein Mousavi, says the vote was rigged. The government denies the charge.

Ahmadinejad was quoted as telling clerics on Sunday: "Definitely by hasty remarks you will not be placed in the circle of friendship with the Iranian nation. Therefore I advise you to correct your interfering stances," in remarks the ISNA news agency said were directed at U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

'DAMAGE IRAN'

"I reject categorically the idea that the protesters in Iran are manipulated or motivated by foreign countries," Miliband said. "The UK is categorical that it is for the Iranian people to choose their government and for the Iranian authorities to ensure the fairness of the result and the protection of their own people."

Clashes between police and protesters, in which Iranian state TV says 10 people died, were to be "deplored," he said. "This can only damage Iran's standing in the eyes of the world."

Obama, who has been trying to mend ties with Iran since taking office in January, has urged Tehran to "stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called on the Iranian authorities to respect the freedom of the press.

"The Iranian authorities, who summoned the diplomatic corps this morning, made a number of unacceptable comments regarding several foreign leaders, Kouchner said. "The Iranian government will not fulfill the aspirations of its people with insults of this kind."

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said: "We ask the Iranian government to urgently adopt conditions to create a peaceful solution to the internal crisis. The right to safeguard human lives comes before everything else."

But Frattini confirmed an invitation to Iran to attend a G8 meeting in Italy next week to discuss stability in Afghanistan.

In Berlin, police said 2,000 demonstrators marched in the main shopping boulevard, Kurfuerstendamm. Some wore T-shirts spattered with fake blood, others carried banners reading: "Solidarity with the movement in Iran" and "Stop Killing."

"The West must not look away ... European governments have a clear duty to remind Iran, diplomatically, to pressure them to take a peaceful step toward demonstrators," said one of the marchers, Sahand Zamani.

In Paris, several hundred people, including the rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, Dalil Boubakeur, took part in a demonstration.

"The people voted for someone, they voted for Mousavi. They're asking for democracy," said an Iranian student at the University of Paris, who identified himself only as Omid. "This wasn't an election, it was a selection," he said.

In The Hague, about 100 people gathered in front of the International Court of Justice to show support for protesters in Iran, Dutch media reported. On Saturday, hundreds of people attended a vigil in Amsterdam for victims of the violence.

European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said tensions in Iran had added to risks facing the world economy.

"You can talk about Iran as part of a wider analysis that would be associated with risks for the oil markets, not just because of Iran but because of the whole region," he told Europe 1 radio.

(Reporting by Peter Griffiths in London, Brian Rohan in Berlin, Deepa Babington in Rome, James Mackenzie in Paris; Editing by Richard Williams)