Ahmadinejad officially declared winner

Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has officially won reelection, according to the Iranian interior minister, but his closest rival is casting doubt over the results.

With turnout remarkably high, at about 85 percent, Ahmadinejad had more than 60 percent of the vote, while his top challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, took about a third of the vote of the vote. Had Mousavi held Ahmadinejad under 50 percent, they would have gone to a runoff.

Mousavi has also declared victory and labeled the results a “dangerous charade.”

“I personally strongly protest the many obvious violations and I’m warning I will,” he said, according to Reuters. “The result of such performance by some officials will jeopardize the pillars of the Islamic Republic and will establish tyranny.”

The British Broadcasting Channel reports that police have barricaded Mousavi’s campaign headquarters, preventing his supporters from holding a press conference.

The result in Iran represents a setback for the United States, which has had a rough relationship with Ahmadinejad.

President Obama said before the results were finalized Friday that he hoped his speech to the Muslim world in Cairo in recent weeks would lead to a new day in the Middle East, regardless of who won in Iran.

“We tried to send a clear message that we think there’s a possibility of change and, ultimately, the election is for the Iranians to decide but just as what has been true in Lebanon, what can be true in Iran as well, is that you’re seeing people looking at new possibilities,” Obama said. “And whoever ends up winning the election in Iran, the fact that there’s been a robust debate hopefully will help advance our ability to engage them in new ways.”