The crowd of several hundred stood solemnly for Iran\'s national anthem at the opening of Monday\'s ceremony, in which Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a second four-year term in office. He is due to be formally inaugurated in front of parliament on Wednesday.
Former presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mahmoud Khatami did not attend the event, which was also boycotted by opposition leaders Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi. Parliament speaker Ali Larijani was, however, seated on the podium.