For Khamenei, Iran's Election Fight Over

Iran's supreme leader says the government won't give in to pressures over the disputed presidential election, effectively closing the door to compromise with the opposition.

Iran also said it was considering downgrading ties with Britain,
which it has accused of spying and fomenting days of unprecedented
street protests over the vote.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a meeting with
lawmakers that: "Neither the system nor the people will give in to pressures at any price."

Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi claims that hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole the June 12 presidential election through massive fraud. He has called for annulling the results and holding a new vote.

An unconfirmed report stated that the country's powerful, 86-member Assembly of Experts - headed by former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani - is split in its support for Khamenei and Ahmadinejad. However, neither is expected to lose their positions.

Khamenei's comments come on the heels of a conservative candidate withdrawing his complaints about voting fraud for the sake of the country, state television reported.

The announcement by Mohsen Rezaie, a former commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards, moved the cleric-led government one step closer to a final declaration of victory for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. State TV reported that Ahmadinejad would be sworn in sometime between July 26 and Aug. 19.

IranWatch: Track the latest on the Iran election upheaval.

Mousavi's supporters claim massive fraud tilted the election and want the vote to be canceled and held again. The final tally gave 62.6 percent of the vote to Ahmadinejad and 33.75 percent to Mousavi, a landslide victory in a race that had been perceived as much closer. Rezaie came in third.

Mousavi has said little and remained out of the public eye as the government flooded the streets of Tehran with police and pro-government militia to deter further protests. It has quietly been arresting reformist activists and others, according to human rights groups outside the country.

Government tallies have shown that at least 627 people have been arrested in Tehran. Some state media have reported 17 protesters killed by security forces. Other state reports give the number as 27, said Hadi Ghaemi, director of the New York-based International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran.

Ghaemi said he believes the number of dead is much higher, based on conversations with hospital workers, witnesses and relatives of victims in Iran.

There were no reported demonstrations Tuesday and protesters have been resorting to more subtle ways of challenging the outcome of the presidential election: holding up posters, shouting from rooftops and turning on car headlights.

"People are calmly protesting, more symbolically than with their voices," a Tehran resident said in a telephone interview, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of government retribution.

President Obama hardened his rhetoric on the crackdown, saying the world was "appalled and outraged".

"I have made it clear that the United States respects the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is not interfering in Iran's affairs," Mr. Obama said. "But we must also bear witness to the courage and dignity of the Iranian people, and to a remarkable opening within Iranian society."

Mr. Obama had been avoiding harsh condemnation of Iran's government, which often labels domestic unrest as the work of foreign agents.

Iran expelled two diplomats from Britain - a nation it bitterly accuses of meddling and spying - and Britain in turn sent two Iranian envoys home. There was no immediate word Wednesday on any Iranian reaction to the speech by Mr. Obama, who had been trying to warm relations with the Islamic Republic.