IRAN’S Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei dismissed calls for a mass boycott of next months presidential elections as unrest continues to spread across the country.

He defended the vetting and exclusion of all but seven candidates, saying that the “honourable Guardian Council, in accordance with its duty, did what it had to do and what it deemed necessary to do.”

The 12-member body, all of whom are handpicked by Mr Khamenei, dismissed the nominations of the remaining 583 candidates that had registered to run in the election.