Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi told his supporters today he was
ready for martyrdom.
"In a public address in southwestern Tehran, Mousavi said he was ready for martyrdom and that he would continue his path," a Mousavi ally, who asked not to be named, told reporters.
Meanwhile US President Barack Obama urged the Iranian government today to "stop all violent and unjust actions against its own people" as protests continued in Iran against the alleged rigging of last week's election.
"The Iranian government must understand that the world is watching. We mourn each and every innocent life that is lost," Mr Obama said in a statement.
"The universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected, and the United States stands with all who seek to exercise those rights," he said.
Earlier, Iranian state media reported that a suicide bomber blew himself up at the mausoleum of the father of Iran's revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
"A few minutes ago a suicide bomber exploded himself in the shrine," police official Hossein Sajedinia was quoted by the semi-official Mehr news agency as saying.
Two people were wounded in the incident in the northern wing of the shrine, another news agency, Fars, said.
The reported attack on Khomeini's mausoleum seemed likely to stir outrage among Iranians who deeply revere the Shi'ite cleric who led the 1979 revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed shah.
Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse thousands of protesters in the Iranian capital to demand a new presidential election.
Eyewitnesses said the demonstrators gathered in central Tehran in open defiance of the cleric-led government.
They said some 3,000 protesters chanted “Death to the dictator!” and “Death to dictatorship!” near Revolution Square in the city.
Police confronted them with tear gas and water cannons.
Witnesses said thousands of police and plain clothes militia members filled the streets to prevent rallies in support of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Witnesses said up to 60 protesters were seriously beaten by police and pro-government militia and taken to hospital in the capital. People were dragging away bloody comrades.
Helicopters hovered overhead, ambulance sirens blared and black smoke was rising over Tehran. Tehran University was cordoned off.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei yesterday warned opposition leaders to end street protests over President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s election victory or be held responsible for any “bloodshed and chaos” to come.
Agencies