More than 100 Iranian parliamentarians have reportedly snubbed an invitation to celebrate a victory party with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. All 290 MPs in the Iranian parliament were invited to the victory party on Wednesday night, but 105 failed to turn up, the reports say. Separately, 70 academics were arrested after meeting with protest leader Mir Hossein Moussavi. Hundreds of opposition protesters and activists are believed to have been arrested and at least 17 people were killed in recent unrest. Supreme leader Ali Khamenei said again on Wednesday he would "not yield" over the election result. Hundreds of protesters afterwards faced off against several thousand riot police near the parliament building in Tehran.
Meanwhile, the US government has rescinded invitations to Iranian officials to attend festivities marking US Independence Day, following the violent crackdown against protestors in Tehran. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said that no Iranian officials had accepted the invitations extended earlier this month to attend the 4 July celebrations. They were issued as part of Washington's plan to engage Tehran.
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