Reporting from Tehran — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be sworn in to his second term before the end of August after Iran's Guardian Council today ruled out the possibility of nullifying a disputed election, saying it could find no evidence of any "major" irregularities, according to the state-owned English-language Press TV satellite news channel.
"Fortunately, in the recent presidential election, we found no witness of major fraud or breach in the election," said Abbas-Ali Kadkhodai, the council's spokesman, according to the report. "Therefore, there is no possibility of an annulment taking place."
He said most of the irregularities alleged by the defeated reformist candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi occurred before the election, which he suggested were outside the scope of the Guardian Council's authority.
The swearing-in ceremony will take place between July 26 and Aug. 19, according to a report posted on Press TV's website.
Mousavi sent the council a lengthy letter last week detailing election-day irregularities as well as alleged abuses of power by Ahmadinejad before the vote. Kadkhodai did not address Mousavi's allegation that ballot boxes were taken to military bases at one point on election day, where they were beyond the view of poll observers.
The rejection of a new vote came as Britain announced that it was expelling two Iranian diplomats after Tehran ordered out two of its embassy staff members in Iran. Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the British House of Commons that Iran took the "unjustified step" over allegations that he called "absolutely without foundation," the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.
Iranian authorities have blamed the West for stirring up protests. In public statements and television broadcasts, they have particularly targeted Britain, which launched the popular BBC Persian-language news channel this year.
Following threats and the expulsion of the BBC Tehran bureau chief, the British Embassy ordered the families of its expatriate staff out of the country Monday.
"CNN and the BBC have set up a psychological war room," Hasan Qashqavi, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, told reporters at a news conference broadcast on state television.
"As for BBC Persian and the VOA [Voice of America], their case is obvious," he said. "Their objectives are, A, to weaken national solidarity and, B, to threaten Iran's territorial integrity and divide Iran. This is the approved agenda that was promulgated to the VOA and BBC Persian, after their budgets were approved by the British Parliament and the U.S. Congress."
