In this photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei attends a meeting with President Masoud Pezeshkian’s administration, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, Aug. 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Iran’s supreme leader opened the door on Tuesday (August 27, 2024) to renewed negotiations with the United States over his country’s rapidly advancing nuclear program, telling its civilian government there was “no harm” in engaging with its “enemy.”

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s remarks set clear red lines for any talks taking place under the government of reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian and renewed his warnings that Washington wasn’t to be trusted.

But his comments mirror those around the time of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Tehran’s nuclear program greatly curtailed in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Yet it remains unclear just how much room Mr. Pezeshkian will have to manoeuvre, particularly as tensions remain high in West Asia over the Israel-Hamas war and as the U.S. prepares for a presidential election in November.

“This does not mean that we cannot interact with the same enemy in certain situations,” Khamenei said, according to a transcript on his official website. “There is no harm in that, but do not place your hopes in them.”

Mr. Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, also warned Mr. Pezeshkian’s Cabinet, “Do not trust the enemy.”

Mr. Khamenei, 85, has occasionally urged talks or dismissed them with Washington after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the deal in 2018.

There have been indirect talks between Iran and the U.S. in recent years mediated by Oman and Qatar, two of the United States’ West Asia interlocutors when it comes to Iran. Mr. Khamenei’s remarks came a day after Qatar’s Prime Minister visited the country.

Asked for comment, the U.S. State Department told The Associated Press: “We will judge Iran’s leadership by their actions, not their words.”

“We have long said that we ultimately view diplomacy as the best way to achieve an effective, sustainable solution with regard to Iran’s nuclear program,” it said. “However, we are far away from anything like that right now given Iran’s escalations across the board, including its nuclear escalations and its failure to cooperate” with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear watchdog.

“If Iran wants to demonstrate seriousness or a new approach, they should stop nuclear escalations and start meaningfully cooperating with the IAEA,” it said.

Since the deal’s collapse, Iran has abandoned all limits that the deal put on its program, and enriches uranium to up to 60% purity — near weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Surveillance cameras installed by the IAEA have been disrupted, while Iran has barred some of the Vienna-based agency’s most experienced inspectors. Iranian officials also have increasingly threatened that they could pursue atomic weapons.

Meanwhile, tensions between Iran and Israel have hit a new high during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Tehran launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel in April after years of a shadow war between the two countries reached a climax with Israel’s apparent attack on an Iranian consular building in Syria that killed two Iranian generals and others.

The assassination in Tehran of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh also prompted Iran to threaten to retaliate against Israel.

Mr. Pezeshkian, a former lawmaker who won the presidency after a May helicopter crash killed hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, campaigned in part on a promise to reengage the West with negotiations. Mr. Khamenei’s remarks as Iran’s paramount leader could provide him with the political cover to do so. Mr. Pezeshkian’s new Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, was deeply involved in negotiations on the 2015 deal.

“After doing everything we can, a tactical retreat might sometimes be necessary, but we should not abandon our goals or opinions at the first sign of difficulty,” Mr. Khameini also said Tuesday, the second time in recent days he’s referred to a “tactical retreat” amid the tensions.

However, it’s not just Iran that’s facing a new presidency. The U.S. will hold a presidential election on Nov. 5, with Vice President Kamala Harris and Mr. Trump as the leading candidates. Iran has been concerned about Trump’s return to power.

While the U.S. engaged in indirect talks with Iran under President Joe Biden, it remains unclear how that would carry over to a possible Harris administration. Ms. Harris, in a speech to the Democratic National Convention last week, said: “I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists.”

The RANE Network, a risk-intelligence firm, said if Harris wins, “the likelihood of a deal will rise as the Israel-Hamas war winds down.”

“Once negotiations begin, Iran will likely demand more protections regarding a potential U.S. withdrawal from a new deal after the United States walked away from the previous deal in 2018,” RANE said in an analysis Tuesday.

“Because of concerns about the sustainability of any new deal, Iran is also less likely to offer as many nuclear concessions, like the dismantling of more advanced centrifuges, since Iran would want to be able to spin up its nuclear program as fast as possible in the event of another U.S. exit from the new deal.”

Tuesday’s meeting between Mr. Khamenei and Mr. Pezeshkian’s Cabinet included an appearance by former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who helped Iran reach the 2015 deal. After the meeting, Zarif said in an online message that he would continue to serve as a vice president in Mr. Pezeshkian’s administration after earlier publicly resigning over the makeup of the Cabinet.

Hezbollah’s leader warned on August 1 that the conflict with Israel has entered a “new phase,” as he addressed mourners at the funeral of a commander from the group who was killed by an Israeli airstrike this week in Beirut.

Meanwhile in Tehran, Iran’s supreme leader prayed over the body of Hamas’ political leader, who was killed in a presumed Israeli assassination.

The back-to-back killings have increased fears of an escalation into a wider war, leaving the region waiting to see how Iran and ally Hezbollah will respond. Iran has vowed retaliation against Israel for the strike that killed Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh on July 31 in the Iranian capital of Tehran.

Israel has not claimed responsibility for Haniyeh’s assassination, but comments by Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari stopped short of an outright denial.

“There was no additional airstrike, not a missile and not an Israeli drone, in the entire Middle East that night,” he said on August 1, fueling speculation that Israel could have used other means to kill Haniyeh.

Israel did confirm it carried out the strike on July 30 in Beirut that killed Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur, along with an Iranian military adviser and at least five civilians. Israel said Shukur was behind a rocket attack days earlier that hit a soccer field in the Israeli-held Golan Heights, killing 12 children. Hezbollah denied being behind that strike, a denial that Nasrallah reiterated.

In a speech via video link to mourners gathered with Shukur’s coffin at an auditorium in a Beirut suburb, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said, “We … have entered a new phase that is different from the previous period.”

“Do they expect that Hajj Ismail Haniyeh will be killed in Iran and Iran will remain silent?” he said of the Israelis. Addressing Israelis who celebrated the two killings, he said, “Laugh a bit and you will cry a lot.”

But as he often does, Nasrallah kept his comments vague, vowing a “very well-studied retaliation” without saying what form it would take. He said only that Israel “will have to wait for the anger of the region’s honorable people.”

“The enemy and the one who is behind the enemy” — an apparent reference to Israel’s chief ally, the United States — “will have to wait for our coming response,” he said.

International officials have been scrambling to avert a cycle of retaliation before it spirals into a greater war. Since the Gaza war began in October, Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire almost daily across the border in exchanges that have caused deaths and the evacuation of tens of thousands from their homes. But they have also stayed within limits.

Several times, strikes that appeared to cross red lines raised fears of an acceleration into full-fledged war, but outside diplomacy reined in the two sides. Hezbollah faces strong pressure not to draw Lebanon into a repeat of the militant group’s 2006 war with Israel, which wreaked heavy death and destruction in the country.

Israel and Iran risked plunging into war earlier this year when Israel hit Iran’s embassy in Damascus in April. Iran retaliated, and Israel countered in an unprecedented exchange of strikes on each other’s soil, but international efforts succeeded in containing that cycle before it spun out of control.

In Beirut’s southern suburbs, the biggest Shiite district in the capital, hundreds of black-clad mourners packed the auditorium, many of them holding Hezbollah flags or photos of Shukur. An escort of red-capped fighters carried Shukur’s coffin, also draped in a Hezbollah flag, down the aisle to the backing of a military band.

In his speech, Nasrallah praised Shukur as a veteran commander and denied that Hezbollah carried out the deadly strike on the soccer field in the mainly Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan.

“We have the courage to take responsibility for where we strike, even if it’s a mistake. If we made a mistake, we would admit and apologize,” he said, adding, “The enemy made itself the judge, jury, and executioner without any evidence.”

An unusual relative calm prevailed on August 1 on the Lebanon-Israel border. Hezbollah claimed no rocket launches into Israel during the day. The Lebanese state news agency said a strike hit the house of a Syrian family in a southern Lebanese town, killing at least four people and wounding several others. Afterwards, Hezbollah announced it had launched a barrage of rockets into Israel in retaliation.

Nasrallah said Hezbollah’s fighters would return to regular military operations Friday, ending the period of mourning for Shukur, but that the renewed strikes would be unrelated to the retaliation for his killing.

Earlier on August 1 in Tehran, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei prayed over Haniyeh’s coffin in a ceremony at Tehran University, with the new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, next to him. State television later showed the coffin placed in a truck and moved on the street toward Azadi Square in Tehran and people throwing flowers at it.

Haniyeh’s remains are to be transferred to Qatar for burial on August 2.

Haniyeh came to Tehran to attend the inauguration of Pezeshkian. Associated Press photos showed the Hamas leader seated alongside leaders from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group and Hezbollah, and Iranian media showed him and Pezeshkian hugging. Haniyeh had met earlier with Khamenei.

Hours later, he was killed in a strike that hit a residence Haniyeh uses in Tehran. Iranian authorities said the attack is under investigation but haven’t provided details.

Israel had pledged to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the group’s Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. On Thursday, Israel said it had confirmed that the head of Hamas’ military wing, Mohammed Deif, was killed in a July 13 airstrike in Gaza. Hamas, which earlier said Deif survived the blast, did not immediately comment.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said “all parties” in the Middle East must avoid escalatory actions that could plunge the region into further conflict.

Speaking on August 1 in the Mongolian capital of Ulaaanbataar, Mr. Blinken appealed for countries to “make the right choices in the days ahead” and said a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza was the only way to begin to break the current cycle of violence and suffering. Blinken did not mention Israel, Iran or Hamas by name in his comments.

A man votes in the run-off presidential election between Masoud Pezeshkian and Saeed Jalili in Tehran, Iran, July 5, 2024.
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Iranians began voting on July 5 in a runoff election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash last month, as public apathy has become pervasive in the Islamic Republic after years of economic woes, mass protests and tensions in the Middle East.

Voters face a choice between the hard-line former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and longtime parliament member who has allied himself with moderates and reformists within Iran’s Shiite theocracy.

An initial round of voting on June 28 saw no candidate get over 50% of the vote, forcing the runoff. It also saw the lowest turnout ever for an Iranian election, leaving turnout on July 5 a major question.

There have been calls for a boycott, including from imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, though potential voters in Iran appear to have made the decision not to participate last week on their own as there’s no widely accepted opposition movement operating within or outside of the country.

State television broadcast images of modest lines at select polling places around the country as polls opened on July 5.

As has been the case since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women and those calling for radical change have been barred from the ballot while the vote itself will have no oversight from internationally recognized monitors.

The voting comes as wider tensions have gripped the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. In April, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel over the war in Gaza, while militia groups that Tehran arms in the region — such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi rebels — are engaged in the fighting and have escalated their attacks.

Meanwhile, Iran continues to enrich uranium at near weapons-grade levels and maintains a stockpile large enough to build — should it choose to do so — several nuclear weapons. Its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, reached by officials now backing Pezeshkian, collapsed in 2018 after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord. In the time since, hard-liners have taken control of all levers of power within Iran’s government.

While Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say on all matters of state, presidents can bend the country’s policies toward confrontation or negotiation with the West.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, who is in charge of overseeing the election, announced all the polls had opened at 8 a.m. local time.

Mr. Khamenei cast one of the election’s first votes from his residence, television cameras and photographers capturing him dropping the ballot into the box.

“I have heard that people’s enthusiasm is more than before,“ Mr. Khamenei said. “God willing, people vote and choose the best” candidate.

However, Mr. Khamenei on July 3 said that those who didn’t vote last week weren’t against the country’s Shiite theocracy.

“There are reasons behind this matter which should be examined by sociologists and those involved in politics,” he said.

More than 61 million Iranians over the age of 18 are eligible to vote, with about 18 million of them between 18 to 30. Elections are scheduled to end at 6 p.m. local, but traditionally get extended until midnight to boost participation.

July 5th’s election marks only Iran’s second presidential runoff since 1979. The first came in 2005, when hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad bested former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Under Ahmadinejad, Iran faced international sanctions over its advancing nuclear program, as well as the 2009 Green Movement protests and the crackdown that smashed them.

Mr. Pezeshkian’s supporters have been warning Jalili will bring a “Taliban”-style government into Tehran, while Jalili has criticized Pezeshkian for running a campaign of fear-mongering.

The 63-year-old Raisi died in the May 19 helicopter crash that also killed the country’s foreign minister and others. He was seen as a protege of Khamenei and a potential successor as supreme leader. Still, many knew him for his involvement in the mass executions that Iran conducted in 1988, and for his role in the bloody crackdowns on dissent that followed protests over the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, a young woman detained by police over allegedly improperly wearing the mandatory headscarf, or hijab.

Presidential candidates Saeed Jalili, left, and Masoud Pezeshkian in Tehran.
| Photo Credit: AP

Over 20 years ago, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stood before a crowd at Friday prayers to denounce the U.S. for its disenchanted electorate.

“It is disgraceful for a nation to have a 35% or 40% voter turnout, as happens in some of the nations that you see having presidential elections,” Mr. Khamenei said in 2001. “It is obvious that their people do not trust their political system, that they do not care about it and that they have no hope.”

Iran now faces what he described. Iran will hold a run-off presidential election on Friday, only its second since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, after only 39.9% of its voting public cast a ballot the previous week. Of over 24.5 million votes, more than 1 million ballots were later rejected — typically a sign of people feeling obligated to head to the polls but wanting to reject all the candidates.

Meanwhile, public rage simmers after years of Iran’s economy cratering to new lows, along with bloody crackdowns on dissent, including over the mass protests sparked by the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini after her detention by the country’s morality police allegedly over not wearing her headscarf according to the rules. Tensions with the West remain high as Iran enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.

Now, hard-line former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili faces the reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon who likely needs a widespread turnout to win the presidency. Mr. Pezeshkian’s supporters warn of dark days ahead under Mr. Jalili. Meanwhile, many people are unconvinced that their vote even matters.

Iranian election law requires a candidate to get over 50% of the vote to avoid a run-off. In results released on Saturday, Mr. Pezeshkian got 10.4 million votes while Mr. Jalili received 9.4 million. Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf came in third with 3.3 million, while Shiite cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi had over 206,000.

A woman walks near a banner of presidential candidate Saeed Jalili ​displayed on a street in Tehran, Iran on June 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Iranians will vote for a new president on June 28 following Ebrahim Raisi’s death in a helicopter crash, choosing from a tightly controlled group of four candidates loyal to the supreme leader, at a time of growing public frustration.

While the election is unlikely to bring a major shift in the Islamic Republic’s policies, the outcome could influence the succession to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s 85-year-old supreme leader, in power for three-and-a-half decades.

Khamenei has called for a “maximum” turnout to offset a legitimacy crisis fuelled by public discontent over economic hardship and curbs on political and social freedoms.

Voter turnout has plunged over the past four years, with a mostly young population chafing at political and social restrictions.

Polls open at 8 a.m. local time (0430 GMT) and close at 6 p.m. (1430 pm GMT), but are usually extended until as late as midnight. As ballots are counted manually, the final result is expected to be announced only in two days although initial figures may come out sooner.

If no candidate wins at least 50% plus one vote from all ballots cast including blank votes, a run-off round between the top two candidates is held on the first Friday after the election result is declared.

Three of the candidates are hardliners and one a low-profile comparative moderate, backed by the reformist faction that has largely been sidelined in Iran in recent years.

Critics of Iran’s clerical rule say the low and declining turnout of recent elections shows the system’s legitimacy has eroded. Just 48% of voters participated in the 2021 election that brought Raisi to power, and turnout hit a record low of 41% in a parliamentary election three months ago.

The election now coincides with escalating regional tensions due to war between Israel and Iranian allies Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as increased Western pressure on Iran over its fast-advancing nuclear programme.

The next president is not expected to produce any major policy shift on Iran’s nuclear programme or support for militia groups across the Middle East, since Khamenei calls all the shots on top state matters. However, the president runs the government day-to-day and can influence the tone of Iran’s foreign and domestic policy.

A hardline watchdog body made up of six clerics and six jurists aligned with Khamenei vets candidates. It approved just six candidates from an initial pool of 80. Two hardline candidates subsequently dropped out.

Prominent among the remaining hardliners are Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, parliament speaker and former commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guards, and Saeed Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator who served for four years in Khamenei’s office.

The sole comparative moderate, Massoud Pezeshkian, is faithful to the country’s theocratic rule but advocates detente with the West, economic reform, social liberalisation and political pluralism.

His chances hinge on reviving the enthusiasm of reform-minded voters who have largely stayed away from the polls for the last four years after previous pragmatist presidents achieved little change. He could also benefit from his rivals’ failure to consolidate the hardline vote.

All four candidates have vowed to revive the flagging economy, beset by mismanagement, state corruption and sanctions reimposed since 2018 after the U.S. ditched Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with six world powers.

The hashtag #ElectionCircus has been widely posted on social media platform X by Iranians in the past few weeks, with some activists at home and abroad calling for an election boycott, arguing that a high turnout would legitimise the Islamic Republic.

In this picture made available by Iranian state-run TV, Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, left, embraces reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian after the conclusion of the candidates debate at the TV studio in Tehran, Iran, on June 25, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

A candidate in Iran’s presidential election withdrew from the race late on June 26, becoming the first to back out for hard-liners to coalesce around a unity candidate in the vote to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi.

Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, 53, dropped his candidacy and urged other candidates to do the same “so that the front of the revolution will be strengthened,” the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Mr. Ghazizadeh Hasehmi served as one of Raisi’s Vice Presidents and as the head of the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs. He ran in the 2021 presidential election and received just under 1 million votes, coming in last place.

Such withdrawals are common in the final hours of an Iranian presidential election, particularly in the last 24 hours before the vote is held when campaigns enter a mandatory quiet period without rallies. Voters go to the polls on June 28

Also read | A brief look at the life of Ebrahim Raisi

Mr. Ghazizadeh Hashemi’s decision leaves five other candidates still in the race. Analysts broadly see the race at the moment as a three-way contest.

Experts say two hard-liners, former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, are fighting over the same bloc. Then there’s the sole reformist in the race, Masoud Pezeshkian, a cardiac surgeon who has associated himself with the former administration of the relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani, who reached Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran’s theocracy under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has maintained its stance of not approving women or anyone calling for radical change to the country’s government for the ballot. However, Mr. Khamenei in recent days has called for a “maximum” turnout in the vote, while also issuing a veiling warning to Mr. Pezeshkian and his allies about relying on the United States.

A widespread public apathy has descended in the Iranian capital over the election, coming after the May helicopter crash that killed Raisi.

After the promise nearly a decade ago of Tehran’s nuclear deal opening up Iran to the rest of the world, Iranians broadly face crushing economic conditions and a far more uncertain Middle East that already has seen the Islamic Republic directly attack Israel for the first time. Iran also now enriches uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels and has enough of it to produce several nuclear weapons if it choses.

The limited options in the election, as well as widespread discontent over Iran’s ongoing crackdown on women over the mandatory headscarf, has some saying they won’t vote.

“I did not watch any of the debates since I have no plan to vote,” said Fatemeh Jazayeri, a 27-year-old unemployed woman with a master’s degree. “I voted for Rouhani seven years ago, but he failed to deliver his promises for better economy. Any promise by any candidates will remain on paper only.”

Worshippers in Tehran at Friday prayers, typically more conservative than others in the city, appeared more willing to vote.

Mahmoud Seyedi, a 46-year-old shopkeeper, said he and his wife alongside two young daughters will vote,

“My wife and I have decided to vote for Qalibaf since he knows how to solve problems of the country because years of experiences but my daughters are thinking about Jalili, too,” he said. “By the way, voting is a duty for us.”

Parivash Emami, 49, another at prayers, said she hoped his vote could help Iran overcome its problems.

“Qalibaf knows details of problems in details, the rest are either critics or promise to solve problems without offering any program,” Ms. Emami said.

After Iran mourned president Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a recent helicopter crash, the nation’s focus turns to an election next month for his successor, with the conservative camp seeking a loyalist to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The lead-up to the early vote on June 28 has opened up the field to a broad range of hopefuls from all political parties. The big question for them is how many candidacies will survive the vetting process in the Islamic republic.

Ultraconservative Raisi, who had more than a year left of his first term, died on May 19 alongside his foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and six others when their helicopter crashed into a fog-shrouded mountainside.

They were laid to rest in multi-day funeral rites drawing mass crowds of mourners.

The June vote will be held during a turbulent time, as the Gaza war rages between Iran’s arch-foe Israel and Tehran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas, and amid continued diplomatic tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme.

Iran also faces sustained economic hardship, exacerbated by tough international sanctions reimposed after the United States withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal, and in the aftermath of widespread anti-government protests.

Mr. Khamenei, who has the final say in all matters of state, has assigned Raisi’s vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, 68, to assume interim duties for the next few weeks and organise the June election.

Media reports suggest Mr. Mokhber himself plans to run for Iran’s second-highest post, as do parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and several prominent former officials.

Among other hopefuls, ultraconservative former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili was one of the first to announce his candidacy.

Other contenders include moderate former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, and centrist Ali Larijani, who served as the speaker in parliament.

Populist ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has so far kept voters guessing and said he is “checking the conditions to decide whether to register”.

“We have to wait for positive developments in the country,” he added.

Vetting process

Iran was rocked from late 2022 by nationwide protests sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, following her arrest in Tehran over an alleged breach of the strict dress code for women.

Hundreds of people including dozens of security personnel were killed and thousands were arrested.

Political expert Abbas Abdi told the reformist newspaper Hammihan that if Iran’s “protesting community” sees an opportunity for change, it “will show its protest, activism and responsibility through participating in the election”.

He said that he was “sure that the reformists will win with a huge margin”, but only if they are allowed to participate — a major concern after many candidates were disqualified ahead of recent elections.

Mr. Abdi added that if the authorities permit a broad spectrum of candidates to run this time, “it will create the necessary hope in the people and lead to high participation”.

Under Iran’s election process, candidates will have several days to formally register, starting on May 30.

The final list, however, will depend on the outcome of the validation process by the conservative-dominated Guardian Council following a June 3 registration deadline.

The 12-member body, which is in charge of overseeing elections, had previously barred many candidates, among them Ahmadinejad and Larijani.

Recent parliamentary and presidential elections have seen plunging turnout, despite efforts by the authorities to encourage people to vote.

Ahead of Iran’s parliamentary elections held on March 1, the Guardian Council disqualified tens of thousands of candidates.

With many of them reformists and moderates, the vetting effectively helped Iran’s conservative and ultraconservative politicians tighten their grip on power.

The March legislative vote saw the lowest turnout since 1979.

Low voter turnout

The 2021 election that brought Raisi to power also saw many reformist and moderate figures disqualified from the race, and the turnout hit a record low for any presidential polls in Iran.

During his years in office, Raisi faced a barrage of criticism from former officials and activists, including over his handling of an already fragile economy.

Raging inflation, rampant unemployment and record currency depreciation dogged Raisi’s presidency, while his government failed to clinch a deal with Washington to revive the nuclear deal and lift sanctions.

He also faced criticism for the government’s handling of the street protests sparked by Amini’s death.

More recently, spillover from the Gaza war saw tensions with Israel skyrocket and climax in mid-April when Iran carried out its first-ever direct attack against Israel.

Iranian forces and allied groups unleashed hundreds of drones and missiles, most of which were intercepted by Israel and its partners.

Amid all the turmoil, Iran’s leaders have urged a calm election process.

On Monday, the new parliament started its first session with a message from Khamenei calling on the lawmakers to keep away from “useless media contests and harmful political controversies”.

(From left) Hafez al-Assad, General Zia-ul-Haq, Ebrahim Raisi, Sebastian Pinera, and Bingu wa Mutharika.

On Monday, officials and state media announced that Ebrahim Raisi, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran and a hardliner considered a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, died in a helicopter crash near the Azerbaijan border. The charred wreckage of the helicopter, which crashed on May 19, Sunday, was discovered early Monday morning after an overnight search conducted in blizzard conditions.

Also Read: Iran helicopter crash LIVE Updates

The helicopter, a U.S.-made Bell 212, had slammed into a mountain peak, although the exact cause of the crash remains unknown. Among the victims were Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the governor of East Azerbaijan Province, and a senior imam from Tabriz city.

The loss of prominent world leaders in air crashes has often marked significant turning points in history, sending shockwaves through the political landscape and leaving nations in a state of uncertainty.

Here’s a list of similar incidents:

Iran is carrying out executions “at an alarming rate,” putting to death at least 419 people in the first seven months of the year, the United Nations chief said in a new report. That’s a 30% increase from the same period in 2022.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in the report to the U.N. General Assembly on the human rights situation in Iran that seven men were executed in relation to or for participating in nationwide protests, sparked by the September 2022 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was picked up by the morality police for her allegedly loose headscarf in violation of Iran’s Islamic dress code.

In all seven cases, information received by the U.N. human rights office “consistently indicated that the judicial proceedings did not fulfil the requirements for due process and a fair trial under international human rights law,” Mr. Guterres said.

“Access to adequate and timely legal representation was frequently denied, with reports of coerced confessions, which may have been obtained as a result of torture.”

He said 239 people — more than half of those executed in the seven-month period — were reportedly put to death for drug-related offenses, a 98% increase from the same period last year.

Mr. Guterres expressed deep concern “at the lack of transparent and independent investigations into reported human rights violations, in particular in the context of the latest nationwide protests.” He said the continued targeting of lawyers is also impeding accountability for past and ongoing violations.

The secretary-general cited information received by the U.N. rights agency that between September 17, 2022, and February 8, 2023, an estimated 20,000 individuals were arrested for participating in the protests.

“It is particularly concerning that most of the individuals arrested may have been children, given that the reported average age of those arrested was estimated to be 15 years, according to the deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” he said.

The government said “a minimum of” 22,000 people arrested during the protests were pardoned, but the secretary-general said it was difficult to verify the arrest and release numbers.

Mr. Guterres expressed concern that a number of individuals who were pardoned then received summonses on new charges or were rearrested, including women activists, journalists and members of minority groups. He cited reported instances of disproportionate and excessive use of force against protesters, and beatings and sexual violence after they were put in detention, as well as psychological abuse.

According to information received by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, three renowned female actors who appeared unveiled in public — Azadeh Samadi, Afsaneh Bayegan and Leila Bolukat — were convicted for not covering their hair, Mr. Guterres said. They were handed a range of sentences, “including imprisonment from 10 months to two years, attending weekly counseling sessions, carrying out hospital cleaning duties, a two-year driving prohibition and providing a ‘certificate of healthiness’ upon completion,” he said.

The report circulated Tuesday, covering the year-long period ending July 31, said “the continued denial of adequate medical care in detention remains a serious concern.”

Reports indicate that the health of German-Iranian rights activist Nahid Taghavi, 69, who is serving a sentence of seven years and six months in the notorious Evin prison after conviction on national security charges, “has significantly deteriorated in prison,” the U.N. chief said.

On other human rights issues, Guterres said Iranian authorities continue to use national security “to justify restrictions on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, online and offline.”

He cited a June 27 speech by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling on the judiciary to “eliminate dissenting voices” online and tighten control over cyberspace.

Among many recommendations, the secretary-general urged Iran to immediately halt all executions, abolish the death penalty and release all people detained arbitrarily, “including women and girls, human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists, for legitimately exercising their rights to freedom of opinion and expression, association and peaceful assembly.”

He also urged the government to guarantee the right to peaceful assembly, to ensure that security at protests complies with international human rights norms and standards, and to respect the rights to due process and fair trials.

In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a meeting in Tehran, Iran, on Oct. 17, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Israel’s continuing offensive in Gaza could cause a violent reaction across the region.

“Bombardments should be immediately stopped. Muslim nations are angry,” Khamenei said, according to state media.

Speaking to the Israeli Knesset on Monday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Iran and Hezbollah, “Don’t test us in the north. Don’t make the mistake of the past. Today, the price you will pay will be far heavier.”

Soon after he spoke, the Knesset floor was evacuated as rockets headed toward Jerusalem. Sirens in Tel Aviv prompted U.S. and Israeli officials to take shelter in a bunker, officials said.

The Israeli military said Monday at least 199 hostages were taken into Gaza, more than previously estimated. Hamas said it was holding 200 to 250 hostages.

Hamas’ military wing released a hostage video showing a dazed woman having her arm wrapped with bandages. The woman, who identified herself as Mia Schem, 21, rocked slightly as she spoke, the sound of explosions reverberating in the background.

The plight of the hostages has dominated the Israeli media since the attack, with interviews with their relatives playing on television almost constantly. Israeli officials have vowed to maintain the siege of Gaza until the hostages are released.

In Gaza, more than 400,000 displaced people in the south crowded into schools and other facilities of the U.N. agency for Palestinians. The agency said it has only 1 liter of water a day for each of its staff members trapped in the territory.

Israel opened a water line into the south for three hours that benefitted only 14% of Gaza’s population, the U.N. said.