Iran: Mousavi challenges election approval

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Iran's defeated presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi said in a statement posted on his website that Iran's new government is "illegitimate."

Iranian presidential election runner up Mir Hossein Mousavi has renewed a demand for a complete re-run of the vote and  pledged to help set up a new group to defend citizen's rights. (AFP/Behrouz Mehri)

As for his detained supporters, Mousavi called on authorities to "free the children of the revolution from the prisons". Iran's Guardian Council, which is charged with supervising elections in the country, approved the results of the June 12th presidential election on Monday.

The announcement came after the Guardian Council ran a recount of 10 percent of the votes on Monday which reportedly showed no irregularities. Mousavi rejected the partial vote recount as a ruse and continued to demand a nullification of the election.