Obama urges Iran to halt violence

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Mr Obama has previously sought a measured reaction to avoid being drawn in as a meddler in Iranian affairs, yet his comments have grown more pointed as the clashes intensified, and his latest remarks took direct aim at Iranian leaders.

"We call on the Iranian government to stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people. The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the US stands with all who seek to exercise those rights," he said in a statement.

Mr Obama has searched for the right tone in light of political pressures on all sides. On Capitol Hill, Congress pressed him to condemn the Iranian government's response. In Iran, the leadership was poised to blame the US for interference and draw Obama in more directly.

The president met with advisers at the White House as developments in Iran grew more ominous, with police seen beating protesters.

"Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away," the president said, recalling a theme from the speech he gave in Cairo, Egypt, this month.

"The Iranian people will ultimately judge the actions of their own government," he went on. "If the Iranian government seeks the respect of the international community, it must respect the dignity of its own people and govern through consent, not coercion."

Protesters in Iran have demanded that the government reruns the June 12 elections that ended with a declaration of overwhelming victory for hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi says he won and claimed widespread fraud.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has insisted there was vote rigging, and he has now warned of a crackdown if protesters continue their massive street rallies.

On Saturday, police in Iran beat protesters and fired tear gas and water cannons at thousands who rallied in open defiance of Iran's clerical government. Witnesses described fierce clashes after some 3,000 protesters chanted "Death to the dictator" and "Death to dictatorship" in Tehran.