"We can't say definitively what exactly happened at polling places throughout the country. What we know is that a sizable percentage of the Iranian people themselves spanning Iranian society considered this election illegitimate." Obama said yesterday during a press conference.
Many World leaders have called for an immediate halt to violence against the protesters.
Tehran has refused to overturn the result of the disputed poll, but supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei agreed to extend by five days a Wednesday deadline to examine vote complaints, ISNA news agency said.
Iran's top election watchdog, , the Guardians Council, has acknowledged that more votes were cast than there were eligible voters in 50 of 366 constituencies, but its spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodai insisted yesterday that the vote would stand despite the irregularities .
The opposition claims the June 12 poll that returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power for a second four-year term was rife with fraud.
Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi released on his website a report on what had been promised to show "electoral fraud and irregularities."
The three-page report called for a "commission of truth and justice acceptable to all the parties to examine the entire election process."
It denounced what it claimed was "large-scale" official support for Ahmadinejad and spoke of ballot papers being printed the day of the election without serial numbers, doubts about whether ballot boxes were empty when they arrived at the polls and candidates' representatives being banned from polling places.
Another defeated opposition candidate Mehdi Karroubi strongly criticized Iran's state-controlled media and supporters of Ahmadinejad, likening them to the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.
Karroubi, in a letter addressed to the head of state-run radio and television, scolded Iranian media for blaming recent violence and chaos on the demonstrators who took to the streets after the results of what they believed were fraudulent elections on June 12.
The "assaults, beatings and murder of innocent people" were committed by plain-clothed security forces, not by demonstrators as the Iranian media would like its audiences to believe, Karroubi said in an open letter addressed to Ezattollah Zarghami, which was posted on Karroubi's Web site.
"You know well that those who support Mr. Ahmadinejad's government today are promoters of fanatic and Taliban-like Islam," Karroubi said.
Despite the media restrictions, images of police brutality have spread worldwide via amateur video over the Internet.
Tehran streets remained tense on Tuesday a day after hundreds of riot police armed with steel clubs and firing tear gas, backed up by the Basij militia, broke up an opposition rally.
Iran's state media said at least 17 people had been killed and many more wounded in the unrest that has convulsed the nation for 12 days.
Hundreds of protesters, prominent reformists and journalists have been arrested up by the authorities.
Mousavi has urged his supporters to continue demonstrating but to adopt "self-restraint" to avoid more bloodshed.
Wednesday
7:35pm Foreign Relations Official in Hezbollah Ammar Moussawi met with French Ambassador to Lebanon Andre Paran.
7:28pm president Suleiman is currently meeting with Hariri at the Baabda Palace.
7:00pm MP Saad Hariri said he endorsed the reelection of Nabih Berri as parliament speaker and pointed to a "new era of dealings" prevailing in the country
6:10pm MP Hariri currently meeting with former Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tinah.
5:19pm MP Makari: We agreed to cooperate with all for the benefit of the Lebanese state. We named our parliamentary bloc “Lebanon First”. The bloc is composed of the al-Mustaqbal bloc and some MPs who ran during the elections under the March 14 banner. There are points that need to be clarified with former Speaker Berri and MP Hariri shall meet with him this afternoon.
5:13pm Aoun: Jumblat was right to say he alone decides on his moves. We support Berri's reelection as speaker of parliament. We want a proportional government according to the size of each bloc. We challenge the prime minister and majority ministers to say what establishments the opposition's ministers crippled. We are not calling for veto power.
4:30pm Former Speaker Nabih Berri said he will work for a speedy formation of the government adding "if it was up to me I would do it within two weeks"
4:15pm VOL Radio: Former Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri is expected to meet with Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader MP Saad Hariri this evening at Ain el-Tinah.
04:15pm Army chief General kahwaji met with MP Emile Rahme and the head of the union of municipalities to discuss the situation in the country
03:30pm SOLIDE and Lebanese center for Human rights: The Lebanese that were freed by Syria were not amongst those missing and we hope this is not an attempt to bury the issue of those missing in Syria
3:15pm Judge Adnan Bolbol resigned from his post as head of the prosecution body in the south for personal reasons. He was also the investigating magistrate in the murder case of MP Pierre Gemayel and the assassination attempt against journalist May Chidiac
03:10pm all administrative, security and logistical preparations for the election of a speaker and his deputy are underway
03:05pm LBC : The Buqaiaa crossing on the Lebanese Syrian borders will be only open for tourists only starting July 6 and no commercial trucks will be allowed to use this crossing
03:00pm The meeting of the Future bloc is still taking place in the presence of 40 MPs including PM Siniora
02:50 pm Health Minister Mohammad Jawad Khalifeh : President Michel Suleiman’s share in the next cabinet will increase if political parties reach an agreement over the president’s role, which would be a guarantee for both the majority and the opposition
02:10 pm UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams after meeting with MP Suleiman Franjieh: The formation of a cabinet based on consensus will ensure stability in Lebanon and the region
02:05 pm MP Saad Hariri presides over Future bloc meeting in Qoreitem to decide stance on speaker's election
2:00pm Swine flu cases in Lebanon rose to 30, the health ministry announced.
12:55pm Zahle MP Oqab Saqr said he announced his candidacy for the speaker’s post out of his own convictions and without consulting anyone. But he made the decision on his own to withdraw his candidacy after delivering his message.
12:15pm Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir: I hope that the next stage would be better than the past 4 years. There is a need for agreement among Lebanese in order to get out of problems that have cost us a lot in the past.
11:40am Russian President Dmitry Medvedev called for consolidating stability in Lebanon “which has lately witnessed transparent elections.”
11:30am FM Fawzi Salloukh, who is in Cairo for the Arab foreign ministers’ meeting, discussed with Arab League chief Amr Moussa the situation in Lebanon and the region.
11:15am MP Ali Fayyad told NBN: Al-Mustaqbal bloc will make a big mistake if it gives its MPs the freedom to decide whether to vote for Speaker Nabih Berri or not.
10:30 AP :Some in Iran are now talking about Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the casualty of the Iranian vote crisis and wondering if his powerful office will survive after his eventual death. For two decades, Khamenei's word has been law in Iran, where the supreme leader is considered God's representative on Earth. But today the people are ignoring his warnings to stay off the streets and are chanting for his death, just like they did at the end of the Shah's regime
10;15 As-Safir : “The opposition will define its stance toward the formation of the new government in light of the identity of the next prime minister. We will wait to see the next PM’s program on the issue, which should ensure real partnership,” As-Safir newspaper quoted Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as saying, according to visitors he met with to evaluate the 2009 parliamentary election results. Nasrallah is expected to meet with Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri soon.
10:10 Abi Ramya told LBC: we intend to vote for Berri this time because we are part of an alliance and all the opposition has decided to vote for him. With regards to the deputy speaker we intend to meet today and take a joint decision
10:00 An Nahar : As Safir reported a Saudi envoy will soon visit Syria to discuss, apart from bilateral relations and the Middle East situation, Lebanon in light of the upcoming speakership election and formation of a new government. Also the daily Al Akhbar, quoted Lebanese sources as saying a summit is likely to take place between the Saudi monarch and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "in an effort to convince Damascus to cooperate with the Hariri government."
09:52 MP Abdul Latif Zain : Berri is the only candidate for parliament speaker until this moment and the other names that are being suggested are nothing but media balloons that have nothing to do with reality
09:51 37 were arrested for committing various crimes
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