Khamenei vows no retreat on Iran election result

By Zahra Hosseinian and Hossein Jaseb

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared on Wednesday a disputed election result would stand, despite street protests that Iranian officials say Britain and the United States have incited.

EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.

The opposition refused to be bowed. Reformist cleric Mehdi Karoubi, who came last in the June 12 presidential vote, called the new government "illegitimate" and about 200 protesters braved the security crackdown near parliament.

Riot police later used teargas to break up the protest.

Police and militia have largely succeeded in taking back control of the streets this week after the biggest anti-government protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution. The hardline leadership is refusing to give ground.

"I had insisted and will insist on implementing the law on the election issue," said Khamenei, the most powerful figure in Iran. "Neither the establishment nor the nation will yield to pressure at any cost."

The unrest has exposed unprecedented rifts within the establishment with moderate former Prime Minister Mirhossein Mousavi insisting the election was stolen from him in favor of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Khamenei normally stays above the political fray, but has come down strongly on the side of Ahmadinejad, while Mousavi is backed by powerful former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a pragmatist who favors a less confrontational foreign policy.

Mousavi and Rafsanjani met a group of senior parliamentarians on Wednesday. The semi-official Fars news agency said only that the election and latest developments were discussed, and it was not clear whether the pair were trying to make peace with the hardline-dominated parliament or trying to win over support.

FOREIGN POWERS

Ahmadinejad's government blames the discontent on foreign powers, accusations rejected by London and Washington.

"Britain, America and the Zionist regime (Israel) were behind the recent unrest in Tehran," Interior Minister Sadeq Mahsouli said, according to Fars.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran was weighing whether to downgrade ties with Britain after each country expelled two diplomats this week. He also announced he had "no plans" to attend a G8 meeting in Italy this week on Afghanistan.

His remarks, a day after U.S. President Barack Obama said he was "appalled and outraged" by the clampdown in Iran, provided more evidence of rising tension with the West.

The White House said on Wednesday the United States had withdrawn invitations for Iranian diplomats to attend U.S. Independence Day celebrations on July 4 at U.S. embassies around the world.