President Ahmadinejad proclaimed victory over Iran’s foreign enemies and his supporters all but accused his opponent of treason after the Guardian Council ruled out further challenges to the election result.

Mr Ahmadinejad said of his disputed re-election: “The Iranian nation were the victors and the enemies, despite their . . . plots of a soft toppling of the system, failed and couldn’t reach their aims.”

He was speaking after a partial recount, which his opponents dismissed as a charade, confirmed he had won by a landslide. “The case of the tenth presidential election is closed,” said Abbasali Kadkhodai, a spokesman for the Guardian Council, which monitors elections.

The defeated candidates “cannot object or protest in any other way”.

Mir Hossein Mousavi, Mr Ahmadinejad’s defeated challenger, and groups that support him reiterated their demand for a fresh election but hardline clerics close to the regime made clear that the former Prime Minister risked arrest.

Three senior officials from the Oil Ministry were removed from their jobs in a sign that the purge of Mr Ahmadinejad’s opponents continues.

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, one of the clerics, called Mr Mousavi “anti-revolutionary and against the regime”. Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, another hardline cleric, said that the Guardian Council would not approve Mr Mousavi if he applied to stand in future elections.

The British Government continued to press for the release of four embassy employees arrested for allegedly inciting protests in Tehran. David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said that he and his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, had agreed the need for a swift solution.

Mr Miliband said that the European Union should prepare to impose tougher sanctions if Iran did not enter negotiations about its nuclear programme before the end of the year.

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