TEHRAN, June 30 (AP): A body of 12 clerics declared Iran's disputed presidential vote valid and free of major fraud, paving the way for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be sworn in next month despite claims of vote manipulation that sparked weeks of massive protest.

The Guardian Council, an electoral authority the opposition accuses of favouring Ahmadinejad, said Monday that it had found only "slight irregularities" after randomly selecting and recounting 10 per cent of nearly 40 million ballots.

"From today on, the file on the presidential election has been closed," Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei said on state-run Press TV.

Opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has said Ahmadinejad stole re-election through fraud and demanded a new election. Western analysts have described Ahmadinejad's roughly 2-1 margin of victory as suspicious and improbable.

Conservative Ayatollah Ahmed Jannati, who heads the Guardian Council, said that "meticulous and comprehensive examination" revealed only "slight irregularities that are common to any election and needless of attention," according to the state TV channel IRIB.

The decision ruling out the possibility of a new vote was expected after the country's supreme leader endorsed the vote on June 19. The government had delayed a formal declaration as Mousavi supporters flooded in the streets in protests that were put down through a show of force by riot police and pro-government militiamen.

Mousavi has made few public appearances since then and said he would seek official approval for rallies.

The cleric-led government has said Ahmadinejad will be sworn in for a second term as early as July 26.

Asked if the United States would recognise Ahmadinejad as Iran's legitimate president, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said "We're going to take this a day at a time."