US refuses to acknowledge Ahmadinejad's re-election

Washington, June 15 (ANI): The Obama administration has refused to acknowledge the re-election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"There is an awful lot of questions about how this election was run," Vice President Biden said.

After Ahmadinejad was declared the winner over former Iranian Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi on Saturday, protests erupted in Tehran, where club-wielding police responded, beating people and arresting at least 170."Seventy percent of the vote comes out of the city. That's not Ahmadinejad's strong place. The idea he could get 68 or whatever percent of the vote in a circumstance like that seems unlikely," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press."Mousavi appealed to clerical leaders, asking for a new election and a fatwa against Ahmadinejad.

"Fraud is evident and review and nullification is requested," he wrote in a letter to the Guardian Council.

He also met with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who Saturday hailed Ahmadinejad's win as a "divine assessment."

At least 15 opposition leaders were among those detained in Iran, and the government shut down various Web sites, including Facebook and Twitter, apparently in hopes of hamstringing protesters' attempts to organize.

Mousavi urged backers to keep up the "legal" protests, which have been small but widespread and impassioned.

Enraged supporters burned banks, smashed windows and clashed with police in the worst violence in the country since student protests broke out a decade ago.

Thousands also rallied for Ahmadinejad, who compared the unrest with the reaction of angry sports fans.

Biden and other international leaders want an independent assessment of the vote. (ANI)