Britain says that two more staff members from its Tehran embassy were released by the Iranian authorities today.

Last Sunday, the Iranian government arrested nine local members of the British embassy staff for allegedly instigating riots in the aftermath of the disputed presidential election. Five were released earlier this week and two are still being held. The arrests prompted sharp criticism from the European Union, which accused Iran of intimidation.

Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has called on his supporters to continue their protests and renewed his demands for a complete rerun of the presidential election. Mr Mousavi also announced plans to set up a new group to defend citizens' rights.

Etemad Melli, a reformist newspaper belonging to another defeated presidential candidate, Medhi Karroubi, was shut down by the authorities today after Mr Karroubi denounced the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as invalid and the new government as illegitimate.