Two people were killed and several wounded in clashes between protesters and security forces in central Tehran, officials said. On Monday, thousands gathered at Tehran's Azadi Square in solidarity with the uprisings in Tunisia in Egypt - their first major show of dissent since December 2009, when eight people were killed.

Sanah Jaleh and Mohamad Mokharti, two college students in their 20s, were killed by gunshots, said the government and opposition. Kazem Jalali, member of Iran's parliament national security and foreign policy commission said that two people were "martyred" in Tehran's Monday protests.

He said "a number of popular and revolutionary forces were wounded by gunshots and two persons were martyred." The investigations show that the shootings were done by the outlawed elements.

Thousands of protesters, buoyed by activism across the Middle East, were confronted forcefully by Iranian security forces, which used guns, tear gas and electric prods to disperse them. Dozens of people were injured and 1,500 people have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations, the government and protestors said.

The opposition says more than 80 of its supporters were killed in the six months after December 2009, a figure the government disputes. Several have been sentenced to death, and dozens jailed.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed to punish the organisers of the opposition protests seen in Iranian cities on Monday.