Iran Set to Swear In Ahmadinejad

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is preparing to be sworn in for a second term as Iran's president nearly eight weeks after a a landslide election victory disputed by opposition candidates.

Ahmadinejad will take the oath of office before parliament on Wednesday.

But supporters of the defeated rivals are expected to attempt to protest outside the building in Tehran, the capital, following calls for rallies spread via the internet.

Hundreds of police and members of the pro-government Basij militia have been deployed outside parliament in an apparent attempt to stop any demonstrators from gathering, witnesses said.

At least 20 people were killled and about 2,000 arrested after claims that the June 12 election was rigged sparked a series mass demonstrations on the streets of Tehran.  

The dispute also exposed divisions in Iran's ruling elite, with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran supreme leader, endorsing the poll and backing Ahmadinejad, while other leading political figures supported opposition calls for a re-run.

At a ceremony on Monday, Khamenei described Ahmadinejad as "courageous, hardworking and wise". 

However, leading reformists, including former president Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, both former presidents, were absent from the ceremony.

Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahrudi, the head of Iran's judiciary, has called for unity amid speculation that reformist MPs could boycott the swearing-in.

"I hope all officials understand the situation and maintain unity," he said on Tuesday.

"I hope they do what is best for the revolution, the regime and Islam and disappoint the enemies," ISNA news agency quoted him as saying.

But Mir Hossein Mousavi, who came in second in the presidential race, and Mehdi Karroubi, another defeated reformist candidate, have both vowed to continue their protests against Ahmadinejad's election.

"Despite all the hardship, we will continue our path to fight against the result [of the election]," Zahra Rahnavard, Mousavi's wife, was quoted as saying by Mowjcamp, a reformist website, on Tuesday.

Karroubi was quoted by the Spanish El Pais newspaper as saying: "Neither Mousavi nor I have withdrawn.

"We will continue to protest and we will never collaborate with this government. We will not harm it, but we will criticise what it does.

"Quite honestly, if the authorities had acted in a different way, we would never have had these problems, because the majority of those protesting only did so for that reason."

Western nations, including the United States, Britain, France, Italy and Germany, have declined to formally congratulate Ahmadinejad on his election victory.

But on Tuesday, the White House finally announced that it considered Ahmadinejad to be Iran's elected leader.

Ahmadinejad will have two weeks to present a cabinet of ministers to the conservative-dominated assembly for approval after Wednesday's ceremony.