Riot police and Basij militia on Tehran's main squares warded off the mass protests that have marked the week since disputed elections. Iran's hardline leadership appeared to have gained the ascendancy, at least for the moment.

The official IRNA news agency quoted senior judiciary official Ebrahim Raisi as saying on state television late on Monday: 'Those arrested in recent events will be dealt with in a way that will teach them a lesson.'

He said a special court was studying the cases.

'The rioters should be dealt with in an exemplary way and the judiciary will do that,' Mr Raisi said.

Iran's top legislative body, the Guardian Council, rejected demands for a rerun from former prime minister Mirhossein Mousavi, who says he is the rightful victor in elections that were rigged, and pro-reform cleric Mehdi Karoubi.

Mr Mousavi, himself a scion of the religious establishment, says he does not seek to undermine the Islamic Republic but to purge it of what he calls lies and deceit.

Iranian state television, in a broadcasts clearly intended to discredit opponents defying a ban on protests, paraded people it said had been arrested during weekend violence.

'I think we were provoked by networks like the BBC and the VOA (Voice of America) to take such immoral actions,' one young man said. His face was shown but his name not given.

At least 10 protesters were killed in the worst violence on Saturday, and about seven more early last week. -- REUTERS