The White House spokesman has withdrawn comments which suggested that the US government had recognised Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as Iran's elected president despite popular protests against the vote result.

Robert Gibbs said on Wednesday that his comments a day earlier, in which he said Ahmadinejad had been "elected", did not imply that Washington considered his re-election legitimate.

"Let me correct a little bit of what I said yesterday. I denoted that Mr Ahmadinejad was the elected leader of Iran. I would say that is not for me to pass judgement on," Gibbs said.

"He has been inaugurated - that is a fact. Whether any election was fair, obviously the Iranian people still have questions about that and we will let them decide that."

Opposition continues

Gibbs' fresh remarks came hours after Ahmadinejad was inaugurated as Iran's president in a ceremony in Tehran, the Iranian capital.

Ahmadinejad's rivals in the June 12 presidential poll questioned the veracity of the vote results and thousands of people protested across the country against the incumbent's re-election.

The US secretary of state said on Wednesday that the US was supportive of the continued opposition, although Washington is still interested in dialogue with Iran.

"We appreciate and we admire the continuing resistance and ongoing efforts by the reformers to make the changes that the Iranian people deserve," Hillary Clinton said in Kenya.