June 15 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama said he is “deeply troubled” about the situation in Iran and the violence that has erupted following its disputed presidential election.

“We will continue to pursue a tough, direct dialogue between our two countries and see where it takes us,” Obama told reporters today at the White House, where he was meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. “But even as we do so, it would be wrong for me to be silent about what we’ve seen on the television over the last few days.”.

Tehran has been gripped by protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s claim of victory over former Premier Mir Hossein Mousavi in the June 12 balloting. The Associated Press reported that at least one demonstrator was killed when a pro- government militia fired at a crowd.

Obama said of the demonstrators that “the world is watching” and is “inspired by their participation, regardless of what the ultimate outcome of the election was.”

“We do believe the Iranian people and their voices should be heard,” Obama said.

Mousavi has called for the election results to be scrapped. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the election’s supervisory body, the Guardian Council, to carefully consider Mousavi’s allegations of voting irregularities, state-run television reported.

Mousavi, 67, said there were “obvious violations” and called for the election result to be thrown out after the official tally gave Ahmadinejad, 52, almost 63 percent of the vote. The former prime minister took about 34 percent.

No Observers

Obama said he understands that the Iranian government is going to look into “irregularities” in the election results. “We did not have observers there,” he said. “I can’t state definitively one way or another what happened.”

In other comments, Obama thanked Italy for agreeing to take three detainees from the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Obama has promised to close the Guantanamo detention facility by January. The administration has been under pressure from lawmakers in Congress to send the detainees to other countries instead of bringing them into the U.S.

The European Union formally agreed to help resettle detainees from Guantanamo in a joint statement issued with the U.S. today. Certain EU members are willing to receive detainees, and the U.S. has agreed to help with costs on a case-by-case basis and with intelligence information, according to the statement, which didn’t commit either side to specific terms.

‘Not Just Talk’

“This is not just talk,” Obama said. “Italy has agreed to accept three specific detainees and has also been part of the leadership in Europe that today announced a framework in which European nations can accept detainees. That was something that I was very appreciative of.”

Obama praised a speech by Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who for the first time yesterday said he would accept a demilitarized Palestinian state provided it recognizes Israel as a Jewish homeland.

Obama said the speech shows “positive movement” and “at least the possibility that we can restart serious talks.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Nicholas Johnston in Washington at njohnston3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 15, 2009 20:03 EDT