Iran 'ready' for partial poll recount

Despite the protests and upheaval, Ahmadinejad was in Russia for SCO talks on Tuesday on his first foreign trip since official results showed he secured a second term.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which includes Russia and China, congratulated Ahmadinejad on his win.

Iran's English-language Press TV said seven people were killed and several wounded at the end of Monday's rally -- a mainly peaceful gathering attended by many tens of thousands -- when "thugs" tried to attack a military post in central Tehran.

It gave no details of how the seven deaths occurred.

An Iranian photographer at the scene had said Islamic militiamen opened fire when people in the crowd attacked a post of the Basij religious militia. He said one person was killed and many wounded in the shooting.

The Basij militia is a volunteer paramilitary force fiercely loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who has the final say on all matters of state and who replaced revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini when he died 20 years ago.

Tehran has already seen three days of the biggest and most violent anti-government protests in three decades and Mousavi supporters have pledged to keep up the pressure.

"Tomorrow at 5 p.m. (1:30 p.m. British time) at Vali-ye Asr Square," some of the crowd chanted at Monday's march, referring to a major road junction in the sprawling city of 12 million.

"Mousavi ... urged his supporters not to attend today's rally to protect their lives," his spokesman said on Tuesday. "The moderates' rally has been cancelled."

Ahmadinejad supporters planned a rally at the same square just an hour earlier, the semi-official Fars News said.

Leading Iranian reformist Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a former vice-president who backed pro-reform candidate Mehdi Karoubi in the election, was arrested early on Tuesday, his office said.

There have been widespread arrests across the country since the election protests broke out. The ISNA news agency said on Tuesday around 100 people were arrested in unrest near a university in the southern city of Shiraz.

Demonstrators filled a broad avenue in central Tehran for several kilometres on Monday, chanting "We fight, we die, we will not accept this vote rigging," in support of Mousavi.

"Tanks and guns have no use any longer," chanted the protesters in a deliberate echo of slogans used leading up to the 1979 revolution.

Members of Iran's security forces have at times fired into the air during the unrest and used batons to beat protesters who have pelted police with stones.