Iran's opposition still unbowed, using 'Neda' balloons as icon of protests

Riot police swiftly dispersed a group of 200 demonstrators with teargas on Wednesday, but the protest was a far cry from the marches last week that attracted tens of thousands.

Protest cries of Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest) were heard from Tehran rooftops again overnight, but were much more short-lived than on previous evenings in the capital.

But opposition leaders, though they appeared to have lost the weapon of public protest, were still unbowed.

Reformist cleric Mehdi Karoubi, who came last in the election, called the new government "illegitimate" and the wife of Mirhossein Mousavi, who says he won the poll, said it was a "duty to continue legal protests to preserve Iranian rights".

Mousavi is backed by influential former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a pragmatist who favours a less confrontational foreign policy who heads a council of clerics which in theory at least has the power to depose Khamenei.

Mousavi and Rafsanjani met senior parliamentarians on Wednesday. The semi-official Fars news agency said only that the "election and latest developments" were discussed and it was not clear whether the pair were trying to make peace with the hardline-dominated parliament or trying to win support.