25 Jun 2009

Iran MPs fail to show at victory party

10:09 pm on 25 June 2009

More than 100 MPs appear to have snubbed an invitation to celebrate Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election win, according to local reports.

All 290 MPs were invited to the victory party on Wednesday night but 105 did not turn up, the reports say.

The BBC reports the move is a sign of the deep split at the top of Iran after disputed presidential polls on 12 June.

About 50 MPs in the Iranian parliament are reformist and would not have been expected to attend Mr Ahmadinejad's party.

But the high number of other MPs who stayed away is another indication that the disputed election has split the nation, the BBC reports.

The opposition has vowed to continue with its legal challenges over the election result, which saw Mr Ahamadinejad declared an easy winner.

Meanwhile, Mr Ahmadinejad has told the United States not to interfere in Iranian politics, according to the Fars news agency.

Mr Obama on Tuesday said he strongly condemned the "unjust" violence used on protesters.

The agency reports Mr Ahmadinejad is warning that Mr Obama's comments are similar to those of his predecessor George W Bush - who took a hard line against the Islamic republic.

He says the comments could torpedo any possible dialogue between the countries.

US withdraws July 4 invitations

The White House has withdrawn invitations for Iranian diplomats to attend US Independence Day celebrations on 4 July.

It is the Obama administration's first change of policy towards Iran since the election protests.

It was the first time in three decades that Iranian diplomats had been invited to the embassy parties. Washington cut diplomatic ties with Tehran in 1980.

However, the decision to rescind the invitations was symbolic since no Iranian diplomats had actually responded to them.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent instructions to US missions worldwide on Wednesday telling them to rescind all invitations to Iranian diplomats.