Iran recount confirms Ahmadinejad win: clerics

Iran's top legislative body confirmed the results of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed election victory after a partial recount on Monday, according to state-run television.

"The secretary of the Guardian Council in a letter to the interior minister announced the final decision of the council and declares the approval of the accuracy of the results of the presidential election," state broadcaster IRIB said.

The announcement came after witnessesreported riot police taking toTehran's streets to quell furtherdemonstrations from opposition supporterscondemning the legitimacy ofAhmadinejad's victory.

The 12-member clerical council has already rejectedopposition calls forit to annul the vote overcharges of voting irregularities.

TheInterior Ministry'sinitialtally of the June 12 votehanded Ahmadinejad victory by a 2-1 margin over reformist candidate and former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Ahmadinejad's landslide win spurred allegations of vote-rigging and sent tens of thousands of protesters from both sides into the streets.

Iranian authorities say 17 protesters and eight members of the volunteer Basij militia have been killed in two weeks of unrest, andhundreds of people have been arrested.

The reports from Iran cannot be independently verified because of tight restrictionsimposed on journalists.

10 per cent of ballots recounted: report

Iranian state mediareportedMonday's recount examined a random selection of 10 per cent of the ballots cast.Iran'sEnglish-language Press TV said "few or no errors" were found in the partial recount.

Despite its previous acknowledgementof voting irregularities more ballots were cast than voters registered in several Iranian districts theGuardian Councilhas already said there were no major incidents of fraud and there will not be a new vote.

It called theelection the "healthiest" vote since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Mehdi Karoubi, a reformist cleric who placed fourth in the vote, again called on the council toauthorize anew vote in a letter on Monday.

"The election's annulment is the only way to regain the people's trust," Karoubi wrote.

Representatives ofrunner-up Mousavi who also alleges electoral fraud occurred in the vote and claims to bethe rightful winner reportedly met with the Guardian Council's review panel late Sunday night.

Mousavi has disputed the council's decision to conduct a partial recount and has also called for an annulment of the election.

Neda investigation called

Ahmadinejad's website said Monday he has asked a top judge to investigate the killing of Neda Agha Soltan, a young woman who became an icon of Iran's opposition after video capturing her bleeding to death on a Tehran street was circulated worldwide.

Among thehundredsdetained in the wake of the rallieswere workers from the British Embassy in Tehran.

On Monday, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemned their arrest as "unacceptable, unjustified and without foundation" at aLondon news conference.

Nine of the embassy's employees were arrested Saturday.

Five were later released and four still in custodyare under interrogation, according to Iranian officials.

Iran has accused Western powers mainly Britain and the U.S. of inciting protests in the country.