TEHRAN: Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi renewed on Saturday fraud allegations against Iranian authorities over the June election and called for continued protest.

"People, your friends are committed not to betray you on the path of fighting liars and fraudsters," Mousavi said in a statement carried on his official website.

"With respect to this commitment, the only way that I recommend is to continue on the green path that you have followed in the past months ... with small and large gatherings, campaigns and questions," he said.

Mousavi's call came two days after Iran's conservative-dominated parliament united behind President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and approved the vast majority of his proposed cabinet as reportedly advised by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Mousavi, who came in second, dismissed the June 12 poll as a "shameful fraud" as hundreds of thousands of Iranians poured on to streets in protest against the election.

The protests, in which dozens of people were killed and thousands were arrested, have plunged Iran into its worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution. But Khamenei strongly backed Ahmadinejad, dismissed fraud allegations, pointed an accusing finger at Western states over the unrest and held opposition leaders responsible for the ensuing violence.

The election and its aftermath have bitterly divided Iran's political elite and the authorities have also faced mounting criticism over their handling of the protests amid charges that protesters were raped and tortured in custody. link