 | | | Obama and Merkel hold a press conference in Washington |
DUBAI (Al Arabiya, Agencies) American President Barack Obama on Friday praised the bravery of Iranians who protested against a disputed election in the face of "outrageous" violence, while Iran's electoral watchdog said it found no major violations and described the vote as the "healthiest" since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Hours after foreign ministers of the Group of Eight leading powers called on Iran to immediately put an end to post-election violence and urged Tehran to resolve the crisis "soon," Obama held a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel where they shared "one voice" against violence in Iran.
" I don't take Mr Ahmadinejad's statements seriously about apologies, particularly given the fact that the United States has gone out of its way not to interfere with the election process in Iran " President Obama Obama admitted Iran's crackdown on demonstrators had dented his hopes for direct talks with Tehran, but said international multilateral nuclear talks would go on.
"There is no doubt that any direct dialogue or diplomacy with Iran is going to be affected by the events of the last several weeks," Obama said after talks at the White House with Merkel.
"I think we're going to have to see how that plays itself out in the days and weeks ahead," said Obama.
In another stiffening of tone on Iran, Obama also sharply dismissed demands for an apology from President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad over his previous comments on Tehran's suppression of political dissent.
"I don't take Mr Ahmadinejad's statements seriously about apologies, particularly given the fact that the United States has gone out of its way not to interfere with the election process in Iran," said Obama.
Merkel bemoaned the "horrifying scenes" that she had seen from Iran. "We will not forget those," she said, and vowed to do everything to find out the number and identities of victims of the government crackdown.
"In this day and age of the 21st century, Iran cannot count on the world community turning a blind eye to this," she said. |  | G8 summit " We express our solidarity with the victims but the door of dialogue must remain open " Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini Earlier, the G8 ministers were holding three days of talks in the Italian city of Trieste but the meet has mainly been overshadowed by the unrest in Iran as they sought to renew efforts on the Middle East peace process.
The foreign ministers pointedly did not condemn the Islamic regime and they refrained from calling into question the legitimacy of Ahmadinejad's June 12 re-election but did call for an end to heavy-handed police tactics.
"We want violence to stop immediately," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini told a news conference after releasing a carefully-worded declaration from the world powers.
"We express our solidarity with the victims," Frattini said, but added that on the nuclear issue, "the door of dialogue must remain open."
G8 member Russia warned against isolating Iran with a toughly-worded condemnation, arguing that it could trigger a backlash from Tehran that would jeopardize cooperation on the Islamic republic's contentious nuclear program.
The foreign ministers however served notice to Tehran to put an end to the crackdown on mass street protests, arrests of opposition members and severe restrictions on media coverage. | | Iran's "healthiest" vote " After 10 days of examination, we did not see any major irregularities. We have had no fraud in any presidential election and this one was the cleanest election we have had. I can say with certainty that there was no fraud in this election " Guardians Council spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodai Meanwhile Iran's election watchdog said it would set up a panel, including representatives of defeated candidates, to report on the disputed poll but insisted the election was the country's "healthiest" ever.
The Guardians Council will form a commission, including representatives of defeated candidates, to carry out a partial re-count and draft a report on the poll, spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodai said, quoted by ISNA news agency.
"The Guardians Council has decided to set up a special commission of political figures and representatives of candidates who have been protesting (poll results) to draft a report on the election," Kadkhodai said.
"Ten percent of the votes will be re-counted in the presence of this commission and a report for the public will be published," he said, adding that media will also be present for the re-count."
Kadkhodai earlier rejected opposition allegations of fraud that have brought hundreds of thousands of demonstrators onto the streets.
"After 10 days of examination, we did not see any major irregularities," he told the state news agency IRNA.
"We have had no fraud in any presidential election and this one was the cleanest election we have had. I can say with certainty that there was no fraud in this election."
The council is expected to give its final ruling on Monday after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave it an additional five days to investigate complaints filed by the defeated candidates.
Two weeks after the vote, protests in Tehran over Ahmadinejad's re-election have receded after the authorities responded to the worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution with a fierce crackdown that has intensified despite an international outcry.
State-run English-language Press TV said on Thursday that 20 people have been killed in the protests, including eight members of Iran’s Basij militia. Other state media have reported that 17 civilians have been killed. |
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