Ahmadinejad celebrates 'great victory'
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tonight urged Iranians to accept his controversial victory in the presidential election.
He accused the foreign media of coverage that harmed the Iranian people after authorities claimed he was re-elected in a bitterly disputed vote.
The hard-liner called on the public to respect the vote after his main pro-reform challenger rejected the results and accused authorities of election fraud.
"This is a great victory at a time when the ... propaganda facilities outside Iran and sometimes inside Iran were totally mobilised against our people," Ahmadinejad said in a victory speech carried on state television.
"The heaviest pressure and psychological warfare was organised against the people of Iran.
"A large number of foreign media ... organised a full-fledged fight against our people."
As Ahmadinejad made his victory speech, supporters of pro-reform candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi clashed with police and set up barricades of burning tyres in a show of the most serious unrest in the capital in a decade.
By nightfall, the mobile phone service appeared to have been cut in the capital Tehran and there was more rioting on the streets of Tehran.
Several hundred demonstrators - many wearing the trademark green colours of Mousavi's campaign - chanted "the government lied to the people" and gathered near the Interior Ministry as the final count from yesterday's presidential election was announced.
It gave 62.6% of the vote to Ahmadinejad and 33.75% to Mousavi - a former prime minister who has become the hero of a youth-driven movement seeking greater liberties and a gentler face for Iran abroad.
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, closed the door on any chance he could use his limitless powers to intervene in the disputes from Friday's election. In a message on state TV, he urged the nation to unite behind Ahmadinejad, calling the result a "divine assessment".
Mousavi rejected the result as rigged and urged his supporters to resist a government of "lies and dictatorship".
"I'm warning that I won't surrender to this manipulation," said a statement on Mousavi's website.
"The outcome of what we've seen from the performance of officials ... is nothing but shaking the pillars of the Islamic Republic of Iran's sacred system and governance of lies and dictatorship," it added.
Mousavi warned "people won't respect those who take power through fraud".
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the US hopes the outcome of the election reflects the "genuine will and desire" of the Iranian people. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the US administration was paying close attention to reports of alleged election irregularities.
At a joint appearance with Clinton, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said his country was "deeply concerned" by reports of irregularities in the election.
The clashes in central Tehran were the more serious disturbances in the capital since student-led protests in 1999. They showed the potential for the showdown to spill over into further violence and challenges to the Islamic establishment.
The demonstrations began this morning shortly before the government announced the final results.
Protesters set fire to tyres outside the Interior Ministry and anti-riot police fought back with clubs and smashed cars. Helmeted police on foot and others on motorcycles chased and beat bands of protesters roaming the streets.
Ahmadinejad called on the public to respect the vote and attacked the foreign media's coverage.
Mousavi's campaign headquarters urged people to show restraint.
Even before the vote counting began, Mousavi declared himself "definitely the winner" based on "all indications from all over Iran".
He accused the government of "manipulating the people's vote" to keep Ahmadinejad in power and suggested the reformist camp would stand up to challenge the results.
"It is our duty to defend people's votes. There is no turning back," he said, alleging widespread irregularities.
Mousavi's backers were stunned at the Interior Ministry's claim that Ahmadinejad won after widespread predictions of a close race - or even a slight edge for the reformist candidate.
Turnout was a record 85% of the 46.2 million eligible voters.
In his televised broadcast Ahmadinejad did not mention the unrest on the streets but proclaimed that "a new era has begun in the history of the Iranian nation.
"A bright and glorious future is ahead for the Iranian nation. ... I invite everyone to join me in constructing Iran."
