Iran accuses UN chief Ban Ki-moon of meddling

Iran accused United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday of interfering in its state matters after he urged an immediate halt to the use of force against civilians, the ISNA news agency reported.

"Mr. Ban Ki-moon, under the influence of some powers, is ignoring the realities of Iran's election and his remarks are clearly contradicting his duties ... and are a clear interference in Iran's state matters," the news agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi as saying.

The remarks came after Ban on Monday urged Iran to immediately cease its use of force against civilians and urged authorities to respect civil rights in dealing with protests over the contested results of the June 12presidential election.

A statement issued by Ban's press office said he was dismayed by the post-election violence, "particularly the use of force against civilians."

Meanwhile Tuesday, Iran's top legislative body rejected any annulment of athe election, as demanded by two defeated candidates, state television reported.

"Iran's Guardian Council rejects annulment of the June 12 presidential election, saying that there have been no major polling irregularities," said the English-language Press TV. It gave no further details.

The report came a day after one of the defeated candidates, pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karoubi, repeated his call for the council to annul the election, which official results showed was won by hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"Instead of wasting time on recounting some ballot boxes ... cancel the vote," Karoubi said in a letter to the council.

Moderate former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, Ahmadinejad's main challenger in the election, had also called for the vote to be annulled, citing irregularities.

The council had made clear before that it would not annul the election, saying last week it was only ready to recount a random 10 percent of the votes cast. The authorities reject opposition charges of vote fraud.

Official results of the election, released on June 13, sparked the most widespread street protests in Iran since the country's 1979 Islamic revolution.

The defeated candidates have submitted a total of 646 complaints about the election. Earlier this week, a Guardian Council spokesman said one common complaint was that the number of votes surpassed eligible voters in some constituencies.

But the spokesman, Abbasali Kadkhodai, said it may have been due to the fact Iranians could vote wherever they wanted and that in any case it would not have had any major impact on the election result.

The council is a 12-man body, six senior clerics appointed by the Supreme Leader and six Islamic jurists, which must ensure all laws agree with Islamic Sharia law and Iran's constitution.

It also vets aspiring candidates for presidential elections and must approve the election results.