Diplomatic consequences of the vote and subsequent violence continued to unfold Tuesday, potentially affecting President Obama's plan to engage Iran as a way of halting its pursuit of sensitive nuclear technology.
Iran recalled its ambassador to Britain in a further souring of diplomatic relations between Tehran and London, which is among the international players pushing for a settlement of the ongoing dispute over the Islamic Republic's nuclear research program. Iran accuses Britain of launching a Persian-language version of BBC programming aimed at an Iranian audience before the election to sow discontent and undermine Iran's stability.
In London, the government announced that it was expelling two Iranian diplomats in response to Tehran's order Monday for a pair of British diplomats to leave. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that Iran's action was unjustified, and that its allegations of British support for the Iranian opposition were "absolutely without foundation."
Tehran also accused United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of meddling in Iranian affairs after he called on the Islamic Republic to respect human rights. The U.N. Security Council has passed resolutions condemning Iran's production of enriched uranium, which can be used to build a bomb or provide fuel for a civilian power reactor. The U.N.'s arms control watchdog regularly conducts inspections of Iran's nuclear program.
"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," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi said, according to the Iranian Students News Agency.
The conservative Iranian media have been savaging Mousavi, Karroubi and other reformists. The hard-line newspaper Iran, controlled by Ahmadinejad's camp, said Mousavi's recent comments showed he is "engulfed in a thick shield of personality cult, and is seeing himself as a savior, who is licensed to cross the boundaries of lawlessness, and inflict the biggest damage on the Islamic Revolution."
A crackdown on media and dissidents continued. A top official at the Islamic Culture and Guidance Ministry confirmed the arrest of Iason Athanasiadis, a Greek-born journalist working for the Washington Times. Mohsen Moqadaszadeh, the official, told the Fars news agency that he did not know why Athanasiadis was arrested.
"If they act against the national security of our country and are involved in espionage work, they will be arrested by the intelligence agents and will be handed over to the judiciary officials," he said, according to Fars.
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Mostaghim is a special correspondent. Times staff writers Borzou Daragahi in Tehran and Henry Chu in London contributed to this report.
