Iran says the election was valid after a recount of only 10% of the ballots

Iranian officials on Monday declared the hotly disputed presidential election to be correct after a partial recount.

State television reports that Guardian Council Secretary Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati presented Minister of the Interior Sadegh Mahsouli a letter saying the council has approved the election after a recount of 10 percent of the ballots.

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi claims he, not incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is the rightful winner of the June 12 election, and has called for a new election.

But requests for a new election and allegations of voting irregularities have been rejected. In an attempt to placate protesters, Iran conducted the partial recount.

Meanwhile, the hard-line Ahmadinejad asked for an investigation into the shooting death of a young woman who has become a potent symbol of the opposition's struggle.

The regime's standoff with the West over its crackdown on demonstrators sharply escalated Sunday when Iran announced it had detained nine local employees of the British Embassy in Tehran. Both Britain and the European Union condemned what they called "harassment and intimidation."

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi told a news conference broadcast on state television Monday that five of the Iranian Embassy staffers had been released and the remaining four were being interrogated.

Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseini Ejehi claimed he had videotape showing some of the employees mingling with protesters, and said the fate of those who remain in custody now rests with the court system in a country where supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's word is law. State television said the cleric-controlled judiciary appointed a team "to help clarify the fate of the detainees."

But Qashqavi played down the dispute, saying Iranian officials were in written and verbal contact with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, who called the allegations "wholly without foundation."

"Reduction of diplomatic ties is not on our agenda for any country, including Britain," Qashqavi said...