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Summary
Iran's electoral watchdog began a partial recount on Monday of the fiercely-disputed presidential election but the move is unlikely to placate the opposition which is insisting on a new vote. Tehran, meanwhile, announced it has freed five out of nine British embassy local staff arrested on accusations of stoking the unrest that engulfed the nation after the June 12 election. Against the backdrop of diplomatic tensions, Iran was conducting a partial recount of ballots cast in the election that returned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power in what opposition claims was a shameful fraud marred by widespread irregularities. The recount of 10 percent of the ballot boxes is currently underway in various provinces and towns, Guardians Council spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodai said, according to the official IRNA news agency, adding that the result might be announced by the end of the working day. The opposition wants a complete rerun and has staged massive public demonstrations in a dispute that has shaken the foundations of the Islamic regime, with unprecedented criticism of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. According to official results, Ahmadinejad won by a thumping majority of 63 percent against just 34 percent for his closest rival, the former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, a gap of 11 million votes. Foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said the authorities had freed five of the nine local British embassy staff arrested on accusations of whipping up post-election violence. He said Tehran had no plans to close the British mission or other embassies or downgrade diplomatic ties with foreign nations, despite Iran's repeated accusations of foreign interference. He said the remaining staff were still being questioned, after Mohseni Ejeie accused the British embassy of sending its staff to escalate the riots.
