Earlier on Wednesday, Khamenei told legislators that he “insisted and will insist on implementing the law on the election issue”, according to accounts in the state-run media. “Neither the establishment nor the nation will yield to pressure at any cost.”

One of the three candidates complaining of poll irregularities, Mohsen Rezai, formally withdrew his complaints of vote-rigging, opening a rift among those who had challenged the poll outcome.

Rezai had complained that while the official count gave him 680,000 votes, he had evidence that 900,000 people voted for him.

On Wednesday, Press TV reported, he decided to abandon the complaint, saying the current “political, social and security situation has entered a sensitive and decisive phase which is more important than the election”. Rezai was quoted as calling the ballot a “clear sample of religious democracy”.

Iran’s Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said on Wednesday Tehran was reviewing whether to downgrade ties with Britain, which Iran has accused of interference in its disputed presidential election, the ISNA semi-official news agency said.