Revolutionary Guard threatens crackdown:

Iran's Revolutionary Guard threatened to crush any protests as the Guardian Council announced Monday that voting irregularities found in 50 constituencies would have had no impact on the outcome of the presidential election.

There will be a "revolutionary confrontation" if demonstrators take to the streets again, Iran's elite military force said in a statement on Monday.

Demonstrators must "end the sabotage and rioting activities," said the statement, adding that the protests by supporters of reformist leader Mir Hossein Mousavi amount to a "conspiracy" against Iran.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's landslide re-election on June 12 has spurred allegations of vote-rigging and sent tens of thousands of supporters from both sides into the streets for massive protests.

Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, spokesman for the 12-member cleric Guardian Council, was quoted on state TV as saying a probe into the disputed election results has found that in 50 constituencies there were more votes cast than there were registered voters.

But that "has no effect on the results of the election," which saw Ahmadinejad winning by a 2-to-1 margin, Kadkhodaei said.

Weekend crackdown
Unelected Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Iranians on Friday that Ahmadinejad's win is valid and warned against continued protests of the results.

At least 10 people were killed in clashes Saturday between demonstrators and police and the feared Basij militia. Police said Monday that 457 people were arrested that day alone, without saying how many have been arrested throughout the week of turmoil.

Official figures say 17 people have died in the week of unrest. But searing images posted online — including gruesome video purporting to show the fatal shooting of a teenage girl — hint the true casualty toll may be higher in the clashes.

Mousavi has alleged massive and systematic fraud in the election.

The Guardian Council was ordered to conduct an investigation into the election results.

According to government officials, Ahmadinejad won 62.6 per cent of the vote, while Mousavi garnered 33.75 per cent in a contest that appeared to divide urban and rural voters.

The Guardian Council had said it would conduct a partial recount at disputed poll stations, and will examine the 646 complaints regarding the election results, including allegations of shortages of ballots, people on site trying to force citizens to vote for a particular candidate and expelling candidates' representatives from polling stations.

'The country belongs to you'
Mousavi had indicated he did not expect the review to be successful. He alleges the Guardian Council is not neutral and supports Ahmadinejad. He wants an independent investigation.

Mousavi's website said Monday that he continues to support the protests that have been conducted by his backers.

"The country belongs to you.… Protesting lies and fraud is your right," Mousavi said in a statement posted online.

But aside from the bold words, the opposition on Monday appeared to be scrambling for a strategy to continue the momentum of the protests that have riveted world attention without putting its supporters in peril.

Mousavi's website called for supporters to turn on their car lights in the late afternoon as a sign of protest — a somewhat muted response compared with the recent enormous gatherings.

In statements posted on the site on Sunday, Mousavi said he would "never allow anybody's life to be endangered because of my actions" and again called for fraud claims to be investigated by an independent board.

Source:http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/06/22/iran-election-results-protest452.html