Iran’s Guardian Council earlier today certified the results of the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, fanning the pro-democracy protests that have gripped the nation since June 12.

In a letter to Iran’s Minister of the Interior, the powerful government council said that it was able to confirm Ahmedinejad’s landslide victory after recounting a 10 percent sampling of ballots cast. Raising red flags among protesters, the council also reported that Ahmedinejad may have actually received more votes than were initially reported.

The recount was opposition leader Mir Hussein Mousavi’s final legal avenue for contesting the results of the disputed election, which he claims Ahmedinejad stole. Both Mousavi and fellow opposition candidate Mehdi Karroubi said earlier that they did not give the council’s report any weight, given that is headed by a cleric with strong ties to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamanei.

Word of the council’s confirmation spread via the state-run Press TV on Monday as hundreds of protesters flooded the streets. Some of Mousavi’s supporters also took to their rooftops to yell “God is Great!,” a rallying cry reminiscent of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Attempting to allay tensions at home, Ahmedinejad and other prominent Iranian leaders attempted to blame foreign powers and Zionist organizations for fomenting the protests. In a letter sent to Iran’s Ministry of Justice over the weekend, Ahmedinejad called on officials to investigate claims that British agents may have had a hand in the violent death of Neda Agha Soltan, the young protester who has become an online icon of the Iranian struggle. With a blanket ban on independent journalism, however, there is no way to confirm the outlandish charges.

Iran has taken hundreds of journalists into custody and has revoked press credentials from hundreds more. A number of foreign correspondents, including a BBC reporter and the entire Tehran bureau of the Dubai-based Al Arabiya, have been barred from broadcasting from within Iran’s borders.

On Monday, Iranian state television broadcasted early returns from the ballot recount. Although the council had agreed to recount 10 percent of the ballots cast, there was a feeling among Mousavi’s supporters that it was all for show. After his calls for a new election were shot down by the Guardian Council, Mousavi refused to send a representative to the recount.

The recount comes just as Iranian officials have gained some ground in repairing post-election rifts between the nation’s top clerics and political figures. Khamanei met with two of Iran’s most prominent clerics on Monday to discuss strategies to quell the ongoing political turmoil and reunify Iran’s leadership. On Sunday, Khamanei also met with two former presidents, including Mousavi-adviser Mohammen Khatami. Although there does seem to be some reconciliation between conservative and reformist clerics, statements from the nation’s top clerics have generally been neutral and tempered. Taking longterm political ramifications into consideration, the most powerful players in Iran have been careful to preach domestic peace without exonerating the Khamanei  regime for its transgressions.

Abroad, Iran is continuing a public feud with the United Kingdom. Iran expelled two British diplomats last week, and has arrested eight embassy employees for their alleged roles in the ongoing riots. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said that securing the diplomats’ freedom was the UK’s top priority, and handily dismissed Ahmedinejad’s claims that British agents had any part in fomenting the protests. Responding to Iran’s detention of the diplomats, the European Union said that it would take a unified stance against the harassment of any of its members. Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said on Monday that he would take up international sanctions against Iran with the Group of Eight leaders at an annual meeting scheduled for next week.

Alienating the UK may have major political and economic ramifications for Iran, whose main trading partner is the EU. Reports out of Italy and Turkey suggest that large stockpiles of money, held by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, have been sent to safe havens outside of Iran as a precaution against coming economic upheaval.

photo credit: SIR: Poseyal Knight of the DESPOSYNI’s Flickr photostream (creative commons)