Iranian state radio has reported that government forces loyal to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shot at least seven people to death and wounded an unknown number of others Monday during demonstrations in Tehran's Azadi Square, but non-Iranian news sources say the number is much higher -- at least 24 people are dead.

Protests against the disputed results of last Friday's presidential election have continued despite calls by the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameini to unite behind Ahmadinejad, who landed early Tuesday morning in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Ahmadinejad is scheduled to attend a regional security conference and then meet later in Moscow with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, the country's 12-member Guardian Council, headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni, said it would move to recount the ballots in light of the growing unrest, but only at polling places where candidates allege irregularities occurrred. Challenger and former president Mir Hossein Mousavi issued a public appeal for demonstrators to stay in their homes for safety's sake, but several protests were scheduled for later in the day Tuesday.

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani also declared Tuesday that the country's Interior Ministry must react to the attacks on citizens, including students, according to the Iranian Labor News Agency.

The former nuclear negotiator made the announcement after Iran's state radio reported that seven people had been shot to death by government militia. Unofficial sources said others had been killed elsewhere in the country as well. Iranian state-run television said the "main perpetrators" behind the demonstrations had been arrested, and searches had uncovered weapons and explosives. The veracity of the report could not be confirmed.

Earlier in the day, some 100,000 Mousavi supporters had marched through the streets of the Iranian capital to protest the alleged election fraud.

Photos of bloodied and beaten protestors, as well as several riot police officers, have been posted on news websites and blogs around the world. More than a few journalists have risked their own lives, in fact, to cover the developing story. Reporters for news agencies in various countries have been threatened and beaten by government forces and a number of photographers have had their film confiscated.

Associated Press issued a dispatch at around 3:45 p.m. (Jerusalem time) Tuesday that all foreign journalists were officially banned by the government from reporting from Iranian streets, according to a "tweet" posted by an activist. 

Chatter on Twitter

Chatter about the situation in Iran through the Twitter social networking website has been especially brisk, with more than 400 "tweets", or brief comments logged within a three-minute span Tuesday morning. Many were from young Iranians whose icons had been tinted green in the trademark color of the presidential challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi.

Twitter agreed not to carry out its usual routine maintenance shutdown in order to allow web users in Iran to continue posting. As text messaging (SMS) and cellular phone service continues to be interrupted in Tehran, surfers in the country are posting requests for overseas proxies that can override the "blackouts" and provide internet access unmonitored by the government's Interior Ministry.

Some people in the capital were wearing black clothes Tuesday, "mourning for what is happening in Iran," according to one person who posted a tweet.

"Everyone, everywhere, set ur (sic) location 2 (sic) Tehran, Iran! Confuse them. They can't follow everyone!" recommended another.

"Khamenei says will review [election results] for 10 days when it took only 2 hours to 'count' votes the first time! It's a trap!" a third wrote bitterly.

"To Iranians: Take out your SIM card from your cell phones to avoid detection," advised another.

Obama to Iranian Youth: 'The World is Watching'

U.S. President Barack Obama commented following his meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Monday, "I am deeply troubled by the violence that I've been seeing on television. I think that the democratic process – free speech, the ability of people to peacefully dissent – all those are universal values and need to be respected."

Obama pointed out that the Iranian government said it would investigate the alleged irregularities that had taken place during elections, and noted that the U.S. had not had observers there.

"Butt what I can say is that there appears to be a sense on the part of people who were so hopeful and so engaged and so committed to democracy who now feel betrayed," he said. "And I think it's important that, moving forward, whatever investigations take place are done in a way that is not resulting in bloodshed and is not resulting in people being stifled in expressing their views."

He added that the U.S. would continue to pursue a "tough, direct dialogue" with Iran on the issue of its nuclear development activities, but said he felt it would be wrong to be silent about the current situation.

"What I would say to those people who put so much hope and energy and optimism into the political process, I would say to them that the world is watching and inspired by their participation, regardless of what the ultimate outcome of the election was. And they should know that the world is watching."