TEHRAN — Iran's constitutional watchdog received approval Tuesday to extend its examination of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed reelection victory beyond today's deadline to Monday, state television reported.
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the chief of the Guardian Council, which is overseeing the probe into allegations of vote fraud, said his powerful 12-member body needed more time for "the purpose of greater meticulousness and overcoming any possible ambiguity," according to a statement read on state television.
Earlier Tuesday, the council declared that it had found no evidence of "major" election irregularities and ruled out nullifying Ahmadinejad's disputed victory.
Analysts cautioned against reading too much into the Guardian Council's decision to extend the deadline for its review. Jannati is close to both Ahmadinejad and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the announcement may be a tactical measure aimed at cooling the tempers of Ahmadinejad's main election challenger, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, and his supporters, who have become less vocal in recent days.
The announcement could have also been meant to detract from the call by former parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist who trailed both Ahmadinejad and Mousavi in official election results, for a national day of mourning Thursday to honor those killed in recent clashes between demonstrators and security forces.
The decision came even as parliament announced that Ahmadinejad will be sworn in for a second term by mid-August.
Tehran's streets, stricken with demonstrations and riots since the election, were noticeably quiet Tuesday, with security forces arrayed at key squares and intersections and no reports of violence. Pro-government Basiji militiamen, some wearing camouflage and armed with truncheons and others in plainclothes, lined the roadway leading to Enghelab (Revolution) Square.
Along boulevards that had been scenes of rioting, middle-aged militiamen licked ice cream, sipped fruit juice and stretched their legs in the summer heat.
Iran witnessed its worst domestic unrest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution after demonstrators poured out into the streets to protest what they described as massive vote fraud in Ahmadinejad's reelection.
After days of mass protests, Khamenei on Friday ordered people off the streets and sided explicitly with Ahmadinejad, a move that left the opposition scrambling for a strategy. A violent crackdown ensued Saturday as police and militiamen forced demonstrators off the streets with clubs.
