IRAN'S supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei yesterday endorsed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president for a new four-year term, describing him as "courageous" but telling him to listen to his critics.

In a sign of the escalating feud between rival political factions over Ahmadinejad's hotly disputed reelection, key opposition leaders were absent from the ceremony, state television said.

Khamenei, who has given his full backing to Ahmadinejad despite a political spat, described his protege as a "courageous, astute and hardworking", and hailed his "unprecedented" victory on June 12.

But he warned Ahmadinejad that the "angry, wounded opposition" would continue challenging his government and told him to heed the views of his critics, in a possible reference to a row between the president and his own conservative supporters.

Khamenei also prevented the president from kissing his hand a gesture that made the front-pages when Ahmadinejad won four years ago granting only a kiss on his shoulder, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Ahmadinejad, 52, whose first four years put him on a collision course with the West, again lashed out at "selfish and meddling" foreign governments over the election crisis.

"You do not want a new model of divine democracy rising in the world. You wanted to divert global opinion from the collapse of capitalism, so you insulted the Iranian people," the Fars news agency quoted him as saying.

"Whether you like it or not, the sun of justice has dawned upon the world and the government of justice will prevail."

The June poll set off the worst turmoil in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, with deadly street protests, a raft of political trials and increasing divisions among the ruling elite.

Among those who did not attend yesterday's ceremony were Ahmadinejad's defeated rivals Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, along with powerful cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and former reformist president Mohammad Khatami.

Ahmadinejad, who is to be sworn in before parliament tomorrow, has also come under fire from his own hardline camp, which has questioned his loyalty to Khamenei in a row over a key political appointment.

His landslide victory was met with a vast outpouring of public anger and opposition complaints the vote was rigged. At least 30 people were killed and several thousand protesters rounded up, including reform figures and journalists.

Ahmadinejad's reelection has also created a rift among the clergy, with several senior clerics siding with the opposition and condemning the post-election violence and the regime's treatment of its critics.

The authorities hit back with a heavy-handed crackdown on protesters, whom they accuse of seeking to overthrow the regime with a "velvet revolution".

On Saturday, around 100 people were put on trial in a revolutionary court, a move slammed by the opposition which accused the authorities of torture but welcomed by hardliners who in turn accused Mousavi and Khatami of treason.

Another 10 people went on trial on Sunday.

Relations with the West worsened during Ahmadinejad's first term over his frequent verbal attacks on Israel and his uncompromising stance on Tehran's nuclear drive, which world powers fear is a cover for weapons development.

Although key policy issues are decided by Khamenei, critics point the finger of blame at Ahmadinejad for three sets of UN Security Council sanctions over Iran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.

Opponents also accuse Ahmadinejad, who enjoyed windfall oil revenues in his first term, of mismanaging the economy, stoking inflation, wasting resources and manipulating statistics to cover his failures.

Ahmadinejad crossed swords with Khamenei after the supreme leader ordered him to dismiss a controversial aide, but president denied any rift, characterising his relationship with the supreme leader as one of "father and son".

His second term is likely to be characterised by greater tension with the West, which has warned of tougher sanctions over Iran's nuclear drive and voiced alarm over the crackdown on protesters.

Iran has yet to respond to overtures by new US President Barak Obama after three decades of severed diplomatic ties, but has ruled out negotiations on the nuclear programme, insisting it is for solely peaceful ends.

Tehran's stance towards staunch US ally Israel is also likely to harden. Israel, the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear armed state, has not ruled out military action to curb Tehran's atomic ambitions. (Courtesy of Brunei Times)