Ahmadinejad defends 'completely free' election

Tehran: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has spoken out against claims that he unfairly won the Iranian election on Saturday, saying his re-election was "completely free", after violent protests broke out across Tehran.

In a speech on national television, Ahmadinejad also blasted foreign media for what he called "psychological warfare" against Iranians during the election, accusing the media of instigating a "full-fledged fight against our people".

He said, "Nearly 40 million people took part in a totally free election," adding, "This is a great victory at a time and condition when the whole material, political and propaganda facilities outside of Iran and sometimes... inside Iran, were total mobilised against our people."

Thousands of people in the capital Tehran protested against the result on Saturday, burning barricades on the streets of Tehran and clashing with police, who fired tear gas in response.

Ahmadinejad's main challenger, Mir Hussain Mousavi, has rejected the result as rigged and urged his supporters to resist a government of "lies and dictatorship".

The clashes in central Tehran were the most serious disturbances in the capital since student-led protests in 1999.

Mousavi's campaign headquarters urged people to show restraint, but several hundred demonstrators - many wearing the trademark green colours of Mousavi's campaign - chanted "the government lied to the people" and gathered near the Interior Ministry as the final count was announced.

It gave 62.6 per cent of the vote to Ahmadinejad and 33.75 to Mousavi, who served as prime minister in the 1980s and has become the hero of a youth-driven movement seeking greater liberties and a gentler face for Iran.