Seven killed at Tehran rally, more protests planned

By Dominic Evans and Fredrik Dahl

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Seven people were killed near a rally held by supporters of defeated presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi, state television said on Tuesday, as they prepared for more protests against a poll they say was rigged.

Backers of hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said they planned a demonstration on Tuesday at the same location as Mousavi supporters, raising the possibility of further clashes between the rival camps.

Ahmadinejad, who according to official results won a resounding re-election, was endorsed as "the new president" by the Russian government on Tuesday during his first foreign trip since Friday's poll.

U.S. President Barack Obama said he was deeply troubled by the post-election violence in Iran and demonstrators who had taken to the streets in three days of protests had inspired the world.

Iran's English-language Press TV said seven people were killed and several wounded at the end of Monday's rally -- a mainly peaceful gathering attended by many tens of thousands -- when "thugs" tried to attack a military post in central Tehran.

It gave no details of how the seven deaths occurred.

An Iranian photographer at the scene had said Islamic militiamen opened fire when people in the crowd attacked a post of the Basij religious militia.

The Iranian capital has already seen three days of the biggest and most violent anti-government protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution, and Mousavi supporters have pledged to continue their demonstrations.

Further protests, especially if they are maintained on the same scale, would be a direct challenge to authorities who have kept a tight grip on dissent since the overthrow of the U.S.-backed shah after months of demonstrations 30 years ago.

"Tomorrow at 5 p.m. (1230 GMT) at Vali-ye Asr Square," some of the crowd chanted at Monday's march, referring to a major road junction in the sprawling city of 12 million.

Ahmadinejad supporters plan a rally at the same square just an hour earlier, the semi-official Fars News said. It quoted an organization affiliated to the government as saying the gathering would be "in protest against the recent agitation and destruction of public property."

Press TV said Mousavi had called for calm at what it called his supporters' "illegally" planned rally.

LEADING REFORMIST ARRESTED

Leading Iranian reformist Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a former vice-president who backed pro-reform candidate Mehdi Karoubi in the election, was arrested early on Tuesday, his office said.

Reformist sources said another prominent reformer and Mousavi ally, Saeed Hajjarian, was arrested on Monday.

Obama said on Monday he was concerned by the violence.

"The democratic process, free speech, the ability of people to peacefully dissent -- all those are universal values and need to be respected," he told reporters.

The United States and its European allies have been trying to engage Iran and persuade the world's fifth-biggest oil exporter to halt nuclear work that could be used to make an atomic bomb. Iran says it wants nuclear energy only to generate electricity.

Obama said he would continue pursuing tough, direct dialogue with Tehran but urged that any Iranian investigation of election irregularities be conducted without bloodshed. The world was inspired by the Iranian protesters, he said.

Demonstrators filled a broad avenue in central Tehran for several kilometers on Monday, chanting "We fight, we die, we will not accept this vote rigging," in support of Mousavi.

Mousavi was "ready to pay any price" in his fight against election irregularities, his website quoted him as saying, indicating a determination to keep up the pressure for the election result to be annulled.

"Tanks and guns have no use any longer," chanted the protesters in a deliberate echo of slogans used leading up to the 1979 revolution.

Members of Iran's security forces have at times fired into the air during the unrest and used batons to beat protesters who have pelted police with stones.

The Basij militia is a volunteer paramilitary force fiercely loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who has the final say on all matters of state.

Gunfire was heard in three districts of wealthy northern Tehran late on Monday and residents said there had been peaceful pro-Mousavi demonstrations in the cities of Rasht, Orumiyeh, Zahedan, and Tabriz on Monday.