Iranian women seeking to run in the presidential election next month have been told they are not allowed to take part.

PRESIDENT Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, already at the centre of a post-election crisis, came under criticism from his own hardline supporters yesterday for appointing a first vice president who once caused an outcry by saying Iranians were friends of Israelis.

IRAN officials yesterday dismissed allegations of vote rigging in the presidential election, clearing the way for a run-off vote.