Iran's Supreme Leader calls for calm amid election protests

The Ayatollah has not appeared in public since the election but has met representatives of all four presidential candidates to call for an end to the rioting, which has seen hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets of the capital Tehran in protest.

The move reflects the gravity of the situation, which presents one of the most serious threats to Iran's complex blend of democracy and religious authority since the system emerged from the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

He told the representatives: "In the elections, voters had different tendencies, but they equally believe in the ruling system and support the Islamic Republic.

"Nobody should take any action that would create tension, and all have to explicitly say they are against tension and riots."

At the same time, the Revolutionary Guards - Iran's most powerful military force - has warned online media of a crackdown on their coverage of the country's election crisis.

The elite body answers only to the Supreme Leader. It has said Iranian websites and bloggers must remove any materials that "create tension" or face legal action.

It is the Guards' first public statement since the crisis erupted following the presidential election on Friday. Iranian reformist websites and blogs and Western sites such as Facebook and Twitter have been vital conduits for Iranians to inform the world about protests over the declaration of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as winner of the election.

The government yesterday barred foreign media from leaving their offices to report on the street protests. They could effectively only conduct telephone interviews and monitor official sources such as state TV.

Some foreign journalists were forced to leave Iran because the government would not extend the visas they received to cover the election.

Despite the Supreme Leader's intervention, thousands of people took to the streets again yesterday in rival demonstrations supporting both of the main candidates - Mr Ahmadinejad and moderniser Mirhossein Mousavi. Seven protesters were shot dead and there were accusations of atrocities against students at a Tehran university dormitory.

Mr Mousavi has called the election an "astonishing charade", demanding it be cancelled and held again.

His representative, reformist cleric Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, repeated that demand after a meeting of the Guardian Council yesterday. He and representatives of the two other opposition candidates called for an independent investigation of voting irregularities.

The Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts close to the Supreme Leader and supportive of Mr Ahmadinejad, is believed to have agreed a partial recount.