Iran: More Votes Cast Than Voters

Iran's highest electoral authority acknowledged voting irregularities in 50 electoral districts in the country's June 12 presidential vote, the most serious official admission so far of problems in the election that has spawned dramatic and sometimes fatal protests.

The Guardian Council said on the state TV Web site that a probe of the election showed more votes were cast in these constituencies than there were registered voters. Published reports indicate the number of affected votes could be near 3 million. Around 40 million people voted in the election.

But the council insisted the problems do not affect the outcome of the vote. The electoral council said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won by a landslide.

The council agreed last week to investigate some opposition complaints of problems in the voting. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has demanded that the election result be annulled and a new vote held.

IranWatch: Track the latest on the Iran election upheaval.

Meanwhile, Iran's most powerful security force threatened Monday to crush any further opposition protests over the election, warning demonstrators to prepare for a "revolutionary confrontation" if they take to the streets again. It was the sternest warning yet from the elite Revolutionary Guard.

An Iranian woman who lives in Tehran said there was a heavy police and security presence in the location where an opposition march was slated to take place Monday. She asked not to be identified because she was worried about government reprisals.

"There is a massive, massive, massive police presence," she told the Associated Press in Cairo by telephone. "Their presence was really intimidating."

CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer, one of the few Western journalists still in Tehran, reported that the streets of the capital city were quiet Monday morning. A large number of police, military and Basij militia members were seen on the streets.

Palmer reports that there is an air of uncertainty in Tehran - with nobody sure how the opposition supporters, and their leaders, will react after a weekend of violence and the stepped up show of force by the regime's security forces.

The Revolutionary Guard, in a statement posted on its Web site, warned protesters to "be prepared for a resolution and revolutionary confrontation with the Guards, Basij and other security forces and disciplinary forces" if they continue their near-daily rallies.

The Basij, a plainclothes militia under the command of the Revolutionary Guard, have been used to quell streets protests that erupted after the election result was announced. At least 17 protesters have been killed, according to an official Iranian toll.

The Guard statement ordered demonstrators to "end the sabotage and rioting activities" and said their resistance is a "conspiracy" against Iran.

Mousavi vowed Sunday night to keep up the protests, charging the election was a fraud. The 67-year-old Mousavi, who heads a youth-driven movement for reform, claims he was the true winner of the election.

His statement was in defiance of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate power in Iran. In a sermon to tens of thousands on Friday, Khamenei said demonstrators must stop their street protests or face the consequences and he firmly backed Ahmadinejad's victory.

"The country belongs to you," Mousavi's latest statement said. "Protesting lies and fraud is your right."

Mousavi's Web site called Monday for supporters to turn on their car lights in the late afternoon as a sign of protest.

Mousavi's latest statements posted on his Web site also warned supporters of danger ahead, and said he would stand by the protesters "at all times." But he said he would "never allow anybody's life to be endangered because of my actions" and called for pursuing fraud claims through an independent board.

The former prime minister, a longtime loyalist of the Islamic government, also called the Basij and military "our brothers" and "protectors of our revolution and regime." He may be trying to constrain his followers' demands before they pose a mortal threat to Iran's system of limited democracy constrained by Shiite clerics, who have ultimate authority.

Mousavi ally and former president Mohammad Khatami said in a statement that "protest in a civil manner and avoiding disturbances in the definite right of the people and all must respect that."

Khatami also said "taking complaints to bodies that are required to protect people's rights, but are themselves subject to criticism, is not a solution" -- effectively accusing the Council of collusion in vote fraud.

Official figures say 17 people have died in a week of unrest.

Iran state media reported at least 10 people were killed in the fiercest clashes yet on Saturday and 100 were injured. A graphic video that appears to show a young woman dying within minutes after she was shot during Saturday's demonstrations has become the iconic image seen by millions around the world on video-sharing sites such as YouTube.

Police said Monday that 457 people were arrested on Saturday alone, but did not say how many have been arrested throughout the week of turmoil.

Severe restrictions on reporters have made it almost impossible to independently verify any reports on demonstrations, clashes and casualties. Iran has ordered reporters for foreign news agencies to stay in their offices, barring them from any reporting on the streets.

The government has intensified a crackdown on independent media - expelling a BBC correspondent, suspending the Dubai-based network Al-Arabiya and detaining at least two local journalists for U.S. magazines.

English-language state television said an exile group known as the People's Mujahedeen had a hand in the street violence and broadcast what it said were confessions of British-controlled agents in an indication that the government was ready to crack down even harder.

The Foreign Ministry lashed out at foreign media and Western governments, with ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi accusing them of "a racial mentality that Iranians belong to the Third World."

"Meddling by Western powers and international media is unacceptable," he said at a news conference shown on state TV, taking particular aim at French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"How can a Western president, like the French president, ask for nullification of Iranian election results?" Qashqavi said. "I regret such comments."