Ayatollah's offer of Iran vote recount falls short of opposition demands

The offer of a recount of Iran's ­presidential vote represents a climbdown by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, who initially endorsed of the election result when he declared Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory a "massive success" and a "divine blessing". But it falls far short of the opposition demands.
Mir Hossein Mousavi, the leading opposition candidate, had called for a fresh election and he was reported to be reluctant to go along with a recount conducted by the guardian council, a deeply conservative group of Islamic jurists.
The council referred to the results declared by Khamenei as ­"provisional", an important symbolic concession. "It is possible that there may be some changes in the tally after the recount," said a spokesman, Abbasali Kadkhodai.

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