Rivals shun election ceremony

IRAN’S supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has endorsed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president for a new four-year term, describing him as a “courageous” man but telling him to listen to his critics.

In a sign of the escalating feud between rival political factions over Ahmadinejad’s hotly disputed re-election, key opposition leaders were absent from the ceremony.

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.