TEHRAN: Iran’s election watchdog said today it was ready for a recount in the hotly disputed presidential vote as the nation braced for further protests after seven people were killed in street battles.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s camp and supporters of defeated rival Mir Hossein Mousavi have both called for rallies in Tehran, swept up in the biggest outpouring of public anger since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

In an apparent move to quell the unrest, the Guardians Council election watchdog said it was prepared for a recount if irregularities were found in Friday’s election, which gave Ahmadinejad a landslide win over Mousavi.

And Mousavi urged his supporters not to turn up for their rally today, which was due to be held in a Tehran square just an hour after a similar demonstration called by the regime, in a bid to avoid any violence.

Iran, which has been at loggerheads with the West over its nuclear drive, is facing an international backlash over its crackdown against the opposition protesters and the validity of the election itself.

Seven people were killed in fighting in Tehran on Monday after a mass rally which saw Mousavi appear in public for the first time since polling day, and demonstrations have also spread to other major cities across the country.

The EU said it was “very concerned” about the unrest.

Tyres, dustbins and motorbikes were set ablaze by protesters in Tehran as hundreds of thousands took to the streets in support of Mousavi, who has denounced the election as a “rigged” charade.

State radio said at least seven people were killed when “thugs” attacked and vandalised government buildings at the end of the rally, which had been banned by the authorities as an illegal gathering.

“A military post was attacked with the intention of looting its weapons. Unfortunately, seven of our citizens were killed and a number of them injured,” it said.

Medical sources suggested the toll could be as high as eight.

The mounting protests against Ahmadinejad’s re-election have created the worst political crisis in Iran in 30 years of Islamic rule and some analysts have raised concerns about the future of the oil-rich Shiite Muslim nation.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ordered the election watchdog the Guardians Council to probe the vote-rigging allegations raised by Mousavi, who had declared himself the victor on polling day.

“If the Guardians Council reaches the conclusion that such offences as buying votes or using fake identity cards have been committed... it will order a recount,” council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodai told the official news agency IRNA.

The authorities have warned they would nip any “velvet revolution” in the bud and have rounded up scores of people in Tehran and other cities, including prominent reformist leaders close to former president Mohammad Khatami.

Foreign media banned

TEHRAN: Iran banned the foreign press from reporting on “unauthorised” rallies, the culture ministry said on Tuesday. The ministry instructed the foreign media to avoid participation or news coverage of gatherings which do not have the interior ministry permit, meaning those held by supporters of defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi. The interior ministry

had banned the rally held by Mousavi supporters on Monday in central Tehran which was attended by hundreds of thousands of people. — AFP