Iranian authorities have acknowledged that there were indeed ‘discrepancies’ in the Presidential election held on June 12. The number of votes cast in 50 cities exceeded the actual number of voters. It could affect at the best three million votes but will not decisively change the election result, the State run TV reported quoting the country’s influential Guardian Council.

The assertion came amidst reports that a bitter rift among Iran’s ruling clerics deepened over the disputed election.

The powerful Revolutionary Guards on Monday warned protesters that they would face a ‘revolutionary confrontation’ if they returned to the streets in defiance of the country’s leadership.

The official result gave Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 63 percent of the ballot — an 11-million vote advantage — to his main challenger and moderate reform candidate Mir Hussein Moussavi’s 34 percent
 
At a news conference Monday, Hassan Qashqavi, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, called the turnout (officially 85 percent or 40 million voters) a ‘brilliant gem which is shining on the peak of dignity of the Iranian nation’.

He accused unidentified western powers and news organizations of spreading unacceptable ‘anarchy and vandalism’. But, he said, the outcome of the vote would not be changed. ‘We will not allow western media to turn this gem into a worthless stone’.

The government on Sunday saturated major streets and squares of Tehran with police and Basij militia forces. It was unclear whether protests would continue in the face of the clampdown.

Moussavi has not showed any sign of yielding. He warned the government to ‘avoid mass arrests, which will only create distance between society and the security forces’. And told his followers through a web posting to ‘avoid violence in your protest’
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Five relatives of former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani were briefly detained. Reports said those in custody was Faezeh Hashemi, Rafsanjani’s eldest daughter, who was picked up Saturday after she addressed a rally of Mousavi supporters.

Rafsanjani, an architect of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, is a key backer of opposition candidate Mousavi.