TEHRAN - Political deadlock continued in Iran as opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi on Saturday rejected a panel set up to hold a partial recount of votes in the disputed presidential election.

Refusing to be cowed by a raid on the offices of a party that backed him or by an aide turning against him and blaming him for deaths during protests, Mousavi again demanded a full re-run of the election.

"Limiting the probe into complaints about electoral irregularities to recounting 10 percent of the ballot boxes cannot attract people's trust and convince public opinion about the results," the moderate candidate said on his campaign website Ghalamnews.ir.

Top political arbitration body the Expediency Council urged all candidates to cooperate with the panel, set up by electoral watchdog the Guardians Council.

But Mousavi said: "Reaching a just judgement is not within the domain of the Guardians Council and above all a board which is appointed by this council.

"I insist again on cancelling the election (results) as the most suitable way out of the problem," he said.

The issue should be referred to a body which observes (Islamic) Sharia law, has legal status and is independent, said the former prime minister, who trailed in 11 million votes behind incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad according to official results from the June 12 election.

The Guardians Council said that although it has ordered a partial recount, no "major irregularities" have so far been found and the elections were the "cleanest we have had."

Third-placed Mohsen Rezai said he was prepared to serve on the panel and called on Mousavi and the fourth candidate, reformist Mehdi Karroubi, to join him.

Tehran saw massive demonstrations against Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election and at least 17 people have been killed in clashes with security forces but streets appeared quiet on Saturday after authorities warned that any further gatherings would be suppressed.

Etemad Melli newspaper reported that officials seized documents and computers from the Executives of Construction, a political party that backed Mousavi.

"Officials inspected the office of the Executives of Construction party in Tehran and took away its documents and computers," the reformist newspaper said.

The party was founded in 1995 by technocrats and allies of powerful former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a Mousavi supporter.

Several of its members have been jailed in the election aftermath along with scores of reformist leaders, journalists and political activists.

Meanwhile the editor of a Mousavi campaign newspaper accused him of "causing" the death of Iranians in protests, local media reported.

Amir Hossein Mahdavi, 27, told reporters gathered at ISNA news agency he was also a member of the Islamic Revolution Mojahedeen Organization -- one of the key reformist groups that backed Mousavi for the election.

"Now that Mr Mousavi’s stirring statements have caused the killing of some compatriots he is trapped" by his misjudgment, said Mahdavi, who edited Andisheh No, a four-page newspaper dedicated to covering the moderate candidate’s campaign.

However, leading cleric Grand Ayatollah Abdol Karim Mousavi Ardebili said the "solution to prevent such protests spreading in the streets is to give demonstrators a channel, "either through television or legal gatherings, ILNA news agency reported.

Ahmadinejad unleashed a new tirade against US President Barack Obama, saying: "He who spoke of reforms and changes, why did he interfere and comment in a way that disregards convention and courtesy?"

On Friday, Obama said Iran's "outrageous" crackdown on demonstrators would hit his hopes for direct talks with Iran.

"There is no doubt that any direct dialogue or diplomacy with Iran is going to be affected by the events of the last several weeks," Obama said, referring to the deadly clashes between security forces and demonstrators protesting what they claim was Ahmadinejad's fraudulent re-election.

However, Obama said talks between Iran and the five veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany over its nuclear programme are likely to continue.

The United States and other Western countries suspect Iran of using its nuclear energy programme as cover for a drive for an atomic weapon. Tehran denies that, saying its aims are purely civilian.

On Friday, foreign ministers of the Group of Eight leading powers said they were "concerned about the aftermath of the Iranian presidential election.

"We fully respect the sovereignty of Iran. At the same time we deplore post-election violence which led to the loss of lives of Iranian civilians and urge Iran to respect fundamental human rights.

Iran regrets the "interfering and hasty position" taken by the G8 ministers, foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said.