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Wednesday, August 05, 2009 TEHRAN: Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be sworn in on Wednesday for a second term as Iranian president in a ceremony likely to be snubbed by opposition leaders who claim he was fraudulently re-elected. The 52-year-old Ahmadinejad will formally take the oath of office before parliament, top military officials and foreign diplomats. The White House on Tuesday acknowledged Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the "elected" president of Iran, but said it had no plans to congratulate the firebrand leader on his impending inauguration. Ahmadinejad was approved at a ceremony on Monday for a second four-year term by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who described him as "courageous, astute and hardworking." His victory in the June 12 elections set off the worst turmoil in Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution, with deadly street protests, a raft of political trials and increasing divisions among the ruling elite.
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