Obama: Iranian voters' voices should be heard

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Monday said Iranian voters have a right to feel their ballots mattered and urged the investigation into vote-rigging allegations to go forward without additional violence.

Obama said reports of violence that followed Iranian elections trouble him and all Americans. He said peaceful dissent should never be subject to violence that followed weekend elections that gave President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a second term.

"It would be wrong for me to be silent on what we've seen on the television the last few days," Obama told reporters at the White House.

Obama said he had no way of knowing the results were valid — he said the United States had no election monitors in the country — but it was important that the voters' choices be respected.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says it's up to Iran to determine its own leaders.

But he also says he's troubled by the situation in Iran and that it would be wrong to stay silent. Obama says any investigation into Iranian election results must not result in bloodshed.

It was the U.S. president's first comments following the disputed outcome of Iran's presidential election in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad retained his post. The results set off allegations of ballot fraud as well as a wave of violence and arrests in Iran.

Obama's remarks came at the end of an Oval Office meeting Monday with Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

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