The U.S. denied that it has been trying to meddle in Iran's internal affairs, reiterating that whatever the outcome of the election, it will try to diplomatically engage the country.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton responded to what Tehran had described as 'interfering remarks', saying that the US has no plans to meddle in Iran's domestic affairs.
"It is for the Iranians to determine how they resolve this internal protest concerning the outcome of the recent election," Clinton said as she addressed reporters during a joint press conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman on Wednesday.
"But, it is a fundamental value that the United States holds with respect to free and fair and credible elections," she added.
Iran's Foreign Ministry issued an official statement on Wednesday, condemning certain Western countries for what it called "supporting illegal rallies" and making "off-the-cuff and hasty" remarks about the aftermath of the country's presidential elections.
Amid post-election civil unrest in Iran, US President Barack Obama had expressed "deep concerns" about the treatment of protesters by the Iranian authorities. He had also pointed out that "it was not productive, given the history of US-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling."White House press secretary Robert Gibbs has also said that Obama stands by his defense of the right of people to demonstrate peacefully.
During the Wednesday press conference, Clinton also hinted that the Obama administration would try to negotiate with Iran on nuclear and other issues, regardless of who is the president.
"So now we are obviously waiting to see the outcome of the internal Iranian processes, but our intent is to pursue whatever opportunities might exist in the future with Iran to discuss these matters," she said.
Supporters of former prime minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi have been staging rallies in Iran to protest election results, released by the Interior Ministry, which reserve a landslide victory for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's.
Mousavi, who according to the ministry has lost to Ahmadinejad even in the East-Azerbaijan province where he hails from, cried foul and described the election as a 'charade' - an allegation denied by the president and his interior minister, who was in charge of holding the election.
Iran's last prime minister has submitted his complaint to the Guardian Council -- the body tasked with supervising the electoral process -- calling for the results to be annulled. The law requires the Council to look into election complaints within a period of one week to 10 days.
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