Iranian authorities Tuesday agreed to recount disputed presidential votes as the country faced intensifying unrest in the wake of a claimed victory by incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that opponents say was the result of a rigged ballot.

Ahmadinejad’s main opponent, conservative reformist Mir Hossein Moussavi, Tuesday rejected the vote recount, calling instead for a fresh election.

The stalemate means that rival demonstrations planned for Tuesday evening by Moussavi’s supporters and backers of Ahmadinejad will likely go on — raising the specter of more violence as the country entered a fourth day of unrest.

Iran’s Guardian Council — which is made up of top clerics and judges — said Tuesday it will recount votes that the opposition questioned in Friday’s race.

A spokesman for the council told the official Islamic Republic News Agency that council members met with the three opposition candidates — Moussavi, Mehdi Karrubi and Mohsen Rezaie — and asked them to specify the areas where they wanted a recount.

But Moussavi, whose supporters have alleged ballot fraud, wants Iran to hold fresh elections, the official close to his camp said.

The official, who spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity, said a recount would provide another opportunity for the government to manipulate the results.

He said the council ordered the printing of 53 million ballots for the elections, but only 39 million were used. Fourteen million ballots were missing.

The Guardian Council’s surprise announcement follows Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s apparent u-turn from an earlier endorsement of an Ahmadinejad victory.

Ahmadinejad won Friday’s race, surprising many experts who had expected Moussavi to put up a much stronger fight.

Moussavi, a former prime minister looked on as a reformist, enjoys tremendous support among the youth, who make up almost 60 percent of Iran’s population of 70 million.

He tapped into their dissatisfaction with the faltering economy under Ahmadinejad and with an unemployment rate that tops 30 percent by some accounts.

But Kaveh Afrasiabi, a political scientist who supports Ahmadinejad, said the incumbent’s widespread support in rural areas and small towns was the reason for his win with more than 62 percent of the vote.

Moussavi contested the results. His supporters have taken to the streets every day, often clashing with police and Ahmadinejad’s backers.

Seven people were killed on Monday night in the capital, Tehran, after they allegedly attacked a military post near Azadi — or Freedom — Square, government-funded Press TV said.

The site was the same one where Moussavi had earlier in the day appealed to his supporters — a crowd of at least 10,000.

Moussavi’s presence was his first public appearance since the election. There, he called on authorities to stop attacks on his supporters and urged his followers to continue demonstrating peacefully.

“You are not breaking glass,” he said. “You are breaking tyranny.”

Though the rally was largely peaceful, one person was reportedly fatally shot when it ended.

The official with the Moussavi camp confirmed the death of eight supporters, saying they were killed in clashes with Ahmadinejad supporters following the rally.

Since election day, several violent incidents have been blamed on Ahmadinejad backers.

On Sunday, men on motorcycles combed streets and alleys for protesters — chasing and beating them with clubs, metal batons and baseball bats.

Later that night, a family that lives in a high-rise apartment near Moussavi’s election headquarters in Tehran reported that militiamen had attacked their building.

(Source: CNN)