In a statement, defeated candidate Mir-Hossein Moussavi says he has asked Iranian authorities to issue a permit for staging rallies in cities around the country.

"These rallies will give the Iranian people an opportunity to express their opposition to election process and its result," Moussavi said in a statement on Sunday.

He added that he has asked the Guardian Council, the body that supervises elections, to nullify the result of the Friday's poll in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared victor by a landslide.

In his statement, the former prime minister said that Iranian authorities have made no response to the request for rallies.

"If the officials agree with the request, it will be the best way to control the current sentiments," he added.

Moussavi also criticized communication disruption in Iran over the past two days and said, "This will provoke reaction. It is concerning that it will turn into blind moves."

The Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI) earlier confirmed that text message (SMS) services had been shut down just hours before the opening of the 10th presidential election on Friday.

It said that the reason behind the disruption remained unclear, pointing fingers at "other organizations".

Moussavi also recommended the Iranian police who have clashed with protestors in the streets to "avoid adopting violent behavior towards self-motivated moves of the nation and discrediting the police".

On Saturday, thousands of supporters of presidential hopeful Mir-Hossein Moussavi took to the streets to express their disbelief at the election's results.

Ahmadinejad won a landslide victory in the 10th presidential election on Friday with 24,527,516 votes (62.63 percent) against his main rival Mousavi who received 13,216,411 votes (33.75 percent).

SF/MD