EDITORS’ NOTE: Reuters coverage is now subject to an Iranian  ban on foreign media leaving the office to report, film or take  pictures in Tehran.

TEHRAN, (Reuters) – Supporters of Iran’s defeated  presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi aim to keep pressure  up with new protests today over a disputed poll which has  led to the biggest upheaval since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Despite the authorities’ readiness for a partial recount,  they plan a fifth day of demonstrations since Friday’s poll in  which hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was officially  declared to have won a resounding victory.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who has sought to engage Iran  and asked its leadership to “unclench its fist”, said protests  in the world’s fifth-biggest oil exporter showed the “Iranian  people are not convinced with the legitimacy of the election”.

Seven people were killed in a vast opposition protest on  Monday in central Tehran and Mousavi urged his followers to call  off a planned rally in the same area the following day.

Thousands of his supporters marched instead yesterday to  the state television IRIB building in northern Tehran, which was  ringed by riot police, witnesses said.

Wearing wristbands and ribbons in his green campaign  colours, Mousavi supporters carried his picture and made victory  signs. Some were sending messages to others to meet again today for a rally at Tehran’s central Haft-e Tir Square.
In an apparent bid to head off the opposition rally in the  centre of the capital, Ahmadinejad’s supporters mobilised  thousands of demonstrators where Mousavi’s supporters had  originally planned to gather.

In what appeared to be a first concession by authorities to  the protest movement in Iran’s top legislative body said it was  prepared for a partial recount but ruled out annulling the poll.

The decision was taken by the 12-man Guardian Council  following the election in which hardline President Mahmoud  Ahmadinejad was declared the runaway winner.

Further protests, especially if they are on the same scale  as Monday’s, are a direct challenge to the authorities who have  kept a tight grip on dissent since the U.S.-backed shah was  overthrown in 1979 after months of demonstrations.The United States and its European allies have found  Ahmadinejad implacable in asserting Iran’s right to enrich  uranium, a programme that Iran says is purely peaceful but that  the West fears could be used to make a nuclear bomb.

Obama told CNBC there appeared to be little difference in  policy between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi.

“The difference between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi in terms of  their actual policies may not be as great as has been  advertised,” he said.
“Either way we are going to be dealing with an Iranian  regime that has historically been hostile to the United States.”
Mousavi has disputed official poll results, and Supreme  Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s highest authority who has  favoured Ahmadinejad, said some ballot boxes could be recounted.

“The elected president is a president … of all Iranians.  Possible problems should be resolved following legal channels,”  Khamenei was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.