Backers of Iran's Mousavi aim to keep up protests

More rallies in Tehran
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By Dominic Evans and Fredrik Dahl
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Supporters of Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi aim to keep pressure up with new protests on Wednesday over a disputed poll which has led to the biggest upheaval since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
(Editors' note: Reuters coverage is now subject to an Iranian ban on foreign media leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.)
Despite the authorities' readiness for a partial recount, they plan a fifth day of demonstrations since Friday's poll in which hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was officially declared to have won a resounding victory.
U.S. President Barack Obama, who has sought to engage Iran and asked its leadership to "unclench its fist," said protests in the world's fifth-biggest oil exporter showed the "Iranian people are not convinced with the legitimacy of the election."
Seven people were killed in a vast opposition protest on Monday in central Tehran and Mousavi urged his followers to call off a planned rally in the same area the following day.
Thousands of his supporters marched instead on Tuesday to the state television IRIB building in northern Tehran, which was ringed by riot police, witnesses said.
Wearing wristbands and ribbons in his green campaign colors, Mousavi supporters carried his picture and made victory signs. Some were sending messages to others to meet again on Wednesday for a rally at Tehran's central Haft-e Tir Square.
In an apparent bid to head off the opposition rally in the center of the capital, Ahmadinejad's supporters mobilized thousands of demonstrators where Mousavi's supporters had originally planned to gather.
In what appeared to be a first concession by authorities to the protest movement in Iran's top legislative body said it was prepared for a partial recount but ruled out annulling the poll.
The decision was taken by the 12-man Guardian Council following the election in which hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the runaway winner.
Further protests, especially if they are on the same scale as Monday's, are a direct challenge to the authorities who have kept a tight grip on dissent since the U.S.-backed shah was overthrown in 1979 after months of demonstrations.
NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
The United States and its European allies have found Ahmadinejad implacable in asserting Iran's right to enrich uranium, a program that Iran says is purely peaceful but that the West fears could be used to make a nuclear bomb.
Obama told CNBC there appeared to be little difference in policy between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi.
"The difference between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi in terms of their actual policies may not be as great as has been advertised," he said. Continued...
Source: Reuters