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Mousavi supporters rioting in Tehran on Saturday.
 (AP)
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Last update - 18:24 14/06/2009
Ahmadinejad: Anyone who strikes Iran will regret it
By Haaretz Service and News Agencies
Tags: Iran, Iran election 

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday said any country that dared to attack Iran would "deeply regret" such a move, dashing hopes that his re-election Saturday would temper his confrontational stance toward the world.

"Who dares to attack Iran? Who even dares to think about it?" Ahmadinejad said at a news conference in response to a question.

Iran's refusal to halt nuclear work the West suspects is aimed at making bombs, a charge Tehran denies, has sparked persistent speculation that Israel or the United States might strike at the country's nuclear facilities.
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Ahmadinejad added that Iran's nuclear issue "belongs in the past," indicating there would be no change in nuclear policy during his second term in office.

Meanwhile, defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi formally appealed against Iran's election result on Sunday to the legislative body, the Guardian Council, a statement on his website said.

"Today, I have submitted my official formal request to the council to cancel the election result," Mousavi said in the statement. "I urge you Iranian nation to continue your nationwide protests in a peaceful and legal way."

Iranian police again clashed on Sunday with demonstrators protesting in Tehran against his re-election.

Supporters of defeated reformist Mir Hossein Mousavi, who has dismissed Ahmadinejad's victory in Friday's election as a "dangerous charade", gathered in the city centre, chanted his name and threw stones at police, a Reuters witness said.

Police on motorcycles drove through the crowd to disperse the protesters. At least one person, a woman, was injured. Police briefly detained journalists filming the violence.

In Sunday's news conference, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also defended his re-election as "clean and healthy," dismissing complaints by defeated candidates as sour grapes.

"They may be upset by their failure," he said. "They spent lot of money to make propaganda [and] expected to win so it is natural they are disappointed and upset."

"The margin between my votes and the others is too much and no one can question it."

Reports: Iran rounds up Mousavi, 100 reformists

Sunday's clashes came after reports that more than 100 Iranian reformists, including Mousavi, were arrested on Saturday night.

Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a leading reformist, said that the brother of former president Mohammad Khatami was among the detainees. The L.A. Times reported Sunday that Mousavi, the main challenger to Ahmadinejad, had been put under house arrest.

"They were taken from their homes last night," Abtahi said. He said more arrests were expected.

A judiciary spokesman said they had not been arrested but that they were summoned and "warned not to increase tension." They were later released, he said.

Authorities released Khatami's brother on Sunday, his wife, Zahra Eshraghi, told The Associated Press.

She said at least two other top leaders of Iran's largest reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, including the party's secretary-general, were also released early Sunday after they were arrested when police stormed the party's headquarters on Saturday. Several others remained in custody, she said.

The arrests seemed aimed at avoiding a repeat of the chaos that lasted past midnight Saturday. Opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad set buses and cars ablaze in the capital and threw rocks at police to protest what they viewed as his illegitimate victory.

Iran filters Internet in apparent bit to undercut liberal voices

Iran restored cell phone service that had been down in the capital since Saturday. But Iranians could not send text messages from their phones, and the government increased its Internet filtering in an apparent bit to undercut liberal voices.

Web sites linked to Mousavi, who declared himself the true winner of Friday's presidential race and urged backers to resist the government, were down. Social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter were also not working.

The restrictions were likely intended to prevent Mousavi's supporters from organizing large-scale protests. But several small groups took to the streets, according to witnesses. About 300 Mousavi supporters gathered outside Sharif University, chanting "Where are our votes?"

About a dozen riot police descended upon a crowd of some 50 Mousavi supporters standing outside his campaign quarters, beating them with batons and causing them to disperse.

Reports that Mousavi was under house arrest could not be confirmed, but the 67-year-old former prime minister has not been seen in public since he gave a late night press conference Friday where he accused the government of voter fraud. On Saturday, Mousavi released a Web message saying he would not surrender to this manipulation.

Tehran deputy prosecutor, Mahmoud Slarkia, told the semi-official ISNA news agency that less than 10 people were arrested on the charge of disturbing public opinion through their false reports on Web sites after the election. He did not mention any names.

Iran's deputy police chief Ahmad Reza Radan said some of Saturday's protesters were detained and police used tear gas to stop the demonstrations. He said the situation was under control and accused the foreign media of exaggerating the protests to show unrest in Tehran.

Police will not allow protesters to disturb the peace and calmness of the people under the influence of foreign media, Radan said on state television, which showed footage of the protests for the first time Sunday.

Ahmadinejad: Foreign media coverage harming Iranian people

Ahmadinejad also accused the foreign media of producing coverage that harmed the Iranian people in an address to the country broadcast on state TV late Saturday, saying "a large number of foreign media ... organized a full-fledged fight against our people."

He did not mention the unrest, saying only a new era has begun in the history of the Iranian nation. Ahmadinejad is scheduled to hold a massive rally with supporters Sunday afternoon in central Tehran.

Slarkia, the deputy prosecutor, confirmed that Iran was blocking five pro-Mousavi Web sites because of election violations.

The U.S. has refused to accept Ahmadinejad's claim of a landslide re-election victory said it was looking into allegations of election fraud. There are no independent election monitors in Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday she hoped the
outcome reflects "the genuine will and desire of Iranian voters."

The European Union also said it was concerned about alleged irregularities
during Friday's vote.

Past Iranian elections were considered generally fair. In 2005, when Ahmadinejad was first elected, the losing candidates claimed irregularities at the polls, but the charges were never investigated.

Mousavi called on his backers to avoid violence, but he is still talking tough about pressing his claims of election fraud. He charges the polls closed early but has not fully outlined all of his fraud allegations.

There also have been no hints of any new policy shifts on key international issues such as Iran's standoff over its nuclear program and the offer by President Barack Obama to open dialogue after a nearly 30-year diplomatic estrangement. All high-level decisions are controlled by the ruling theocracy.

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      1.   SORY, IT IS WHAT IT IS 04:54  |  AHMADNEJAD TOP 14/06/09
      2.   Ridiculous Story 06:16  |  Dovy 14/06/09
      3.   Iranians: you overthrew one tyrant, time to do it again 06:28  |  Conroy 14/06/09
      4.   Iranian youth is beaten in Iran`s streets. 07:36  |  Fortuna Benmayor 14/06/09
      5.   Only a fool can believe 08:07  |  Mark Lincoln 14/06/09
      6.   watch gas prices go up 08:51  |  ivan bishop 14/06/09
      7.   DOVY nothing ridiculous about riots,the electoral fraud widely 09:35  |  PETER SM 14/06/09
      8.   I don`t understand 09:42  |  Colin Wright 14/06/09
      9.   Dovy #1, re "protests EVERYWHERE" 09:54  |  yonatan 14/06/09
      10.   Mark Lincoln is right 10:07  |  Reid 14/06/09
      11.   This was not an election, this was a coup. A warning to the world 10:16  |  Realist 14/06/09
      12.   solidarity with Iranian protesters 11:03  |  Adrien 14/06/09
      13.   Indrajaya 11:09  |  Yosemite 14/06/09
      14.   What a dictatorship looks like 11:12  |  allang 14/06/09
      15.   #3, Mark Lincoln 11:23  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 14/06/09
      16.   Is Mousavi just a bad loser, just popular in Tehran? 11:44  |  Michael 14/06/09
      17.   Kohn: Serving up large portions of the usual double standard 11:46  |  Natallie Durson 14/06/09
      18.   Ahmadinejad 11:56  |  Ralph 14/06/09
      19.   "DOVY" nothing ridiculous about riots,the electoral fraud widely 12:28  |  PETER SM 14/06/09
      20.   Ahmedinijad is afraid. 12:34  |  Tzfonit 14/06/09
      21.   Election 12:45  |  John 14/06/09
      22.   I agree Cipora #5 about totalitarian regimes. Obviously you know! 12:59  |  S 14/06/09
      23.   Dovy at #1, there ARE protests in Shiraz and Meshad 13:09  |  Sophie Amrain 14/06/09
      24.   democracy Iran style 13:23  |  bar kochva 14/06/09
      25.   Obama and Bush and Iran 13:31  |  Mehmet Clinton 14/06/09
      26.   The "Fiddlers" are back. 13:33  |  Stephen. 14/06/09
      27.   protest 13:37  |  oz 14/06/09
      28.   #3 Mark Lincoln.....Obama didn`t make one bit of difference 14:21  |  Lynn 14/06/09
      29.   Even With Bad Outcome Bravo to Young Iranians 14:24  |  Jane 14/06/09
      30.   #5 Cipora JK.....The reports say hundreds 14:29  |  Lynn 14/06/09
      31.   Ahmadinejad-an old style repressive dictator with a black hijab 15:00  |  albie 14/06/09
      32.   Don`t Worry Ahmedi-Bye-Bye! 15:32  |  decencyinfuture 14/06/09
      33.   answer to # 1 15:38  |  k 14/06/09
      34.   So, Lincoln, Do You Still Support Nuclear Iran? 15:39  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 14/06/09
      35.   #5 Mark Lincoln: Recall that in the Soviet Union results of the.. 15:40  |  Vittorio 14/06/09
      36.   This is the beginning. 15:44  |  Tzfonit 14/06/09
      37.   Hitler said "Any state that attacks Germany will regret it".Then 15:49  |  Vittorio 14/06/09
      38.   50% of Iranians below 30, with no hope, no future,some highly edu 15:59  |  Rosenberg 14/06/09
      39.   Watch Mousavi dissapear in the next few days, we saw that B4 16:01  |  McCruta Ben 14/06/09
      40.   I believe the declared Iran results 16:03  |  Keith T. 14/06/09
      41.   Any state that attacks Israel or U.S.A will be obliterated!! 16:07  |  JustMe 14/06/09
      42.   iran for ever 16:21  |  farrokh 14/06/09
      43.   He needs a day or two 16:25  |  Arie 14/06/09
      44.   Conroy in Philly 16:30  |  jim the mechanic 14/06/09
      45.   That`s What They All Say 16:35  |  Jeff Northridge 14/06/09
      46.   This is "confrontational" language?? 16:51  |  Steve 14/06/09
      47.   Faurookh 16:53  |  X` 14/06/09
      48.   Middle East "Nuke Free Zone" !! Why Israel refuses? 16:55  |  Tony Silver 14/06/09
      49.   Dovy 17:03  |  Jasper 14/06/09
      50.   Gilles in Montreal " War is Peace then"? 17:06  |  jim the mechanic 14/06/09
      51.   whoever strikes Iran will regre it 17:08  |  hel 14/06/09
      52.   Threats are always serious 17:09  |  lily 14/06/09
      53.   Iranians in the street 17:39  |  Iranian for freedom 14/06/09
      54.   Iran 17:52  |  M 14/06/09
      55.   Response to #7 17:58  |  Dovy 14/06/09
      56.   Ahmadinejad: Anyone who strikes Iran will regret it 18:06  |  Yonatan 14/06/09
      57.   Almost Miss Bush! 18:06  |  Lexikranz 14/06/09
      58.   Reliable poll about Ahmadinejad landslide victory 18:25  |  Noname 14/06/09
      59.   #46 durson. Mousavi deserves justice..You too deserve it for harm 18:55  |  Vittorio 14/06/09
      60.   #46 - Subtle Sarcasm 19:23  |  Brad 14/06/09
      61.   Michael.....Mousavi got the popular vote 19:33  |  Lynn 14/06/09
      62.   Vittorio - Sorry to disappoint..not my post 19:42  |  Natallie Durson 14/06/09
      63.   And you thought Bush was bad... 19:59  |  Sven 14/06/09
      64.   iran 20:00  |  oz 14/06/09
      65.   In Iran, democracy kowtows to theocracy 20:09  |  Akiva P 14/06/09
      66.   History repeats 20:23  |  alan the real one 14/06/09
      67.   re 46 Natty D.. ya gotta luv her 20:28  |  alan the real one 14/06/09
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