Jun 29 Iranian reformist Pezeshkian and hard-liner Jalili head to runoff presidential election By Jon Gambrell, Amir Vahdat, Associated Press Iran will hold a runoff presidential election pitting a little-known reformist against a hard-line former nuclear negotiator after results released Saturday showed the lowest-ever poll turnout in the Islamic Republic’s history. Continue reading
Jun 28 Amid rising tensions in Mideast, polls close in Iran's presidential election after hard-liner's death By Jon Gambrell, Nasser Karimi, Associated Press The race’s sole reformist candidate vowed to seek “friendly relations” with the West in an effort to energize supporters in a vote beset by apathy. Voters faced a choice Friday between hard-line candidates and the little-known Masoud Pezeshkian. Continue reading
Jun 27 Busy election season sees voters heading to the polls from Mongolia to Iran to Britain in coming days By Jamey Keaten, Associated Press Even in a busy year of elections, the next few days stand out. Voters go to the polls over the next week in fledgling democracies like Mauritania and Mongolia, in the Islamic Republic of Iran and in the stalwart democracies… Continue reading
Jun 27 Two candidates drop out in final hours of Iran presidential election By Jon Gambrell, Nasser Karimi, Associated Press The two withdrawals leave four other candidates still in the race. Analysts broadly see the race as a three-way contest. Continue reading
Jun 26 Iran renews headscarf crackdown as presidential vote looms By Nasser Karimi, Jon Gambrell, Associated Press The renewed headscarf crackdown in Iran comes nearly two years since mass protests over the death Mahsa Amini after she was detained for not wearing a scarf to authorities' liking. Continue reading
Jun 25 Iran's supreme leader calls for 'maximum' turnout in presidential election as he issues warning to reformist candidate By Jon Gambrell, Associated Press Iran’s supreme leader issued a thinly veiled warning to the sole reformist candidate in the country’s upcoming presidential election. Continue reading
Jun 23 Iran-backed groups offer thousands of fighters to help Hezbollah against Israel By Bassem Mroue, Qassim Abdul-Zahra, Associated Press Thousands of fighters from Iran-backed groups in the Middle East are ready to come to Lebanon to join with the militant Hezbollah group in its battle with Israel if the simmering conflict escalates into a full-blown war, officials with Iran-backed… Continue reading
Jun 14 In conflict with Yemen's Houthi rebels, U.S. Navy faces most intense combat since World War II By Jon Gambrell, Associated Press The fight against the near-daily attacks by the Houthis has been overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza. Continue reading
Jun 09 Iran approves 6 candidates for presidential race, but again bars former President Ahmadinejad By Associated Press Iran’s Guardian Council on Sunday approved the country’s hard-line parliament speaker and five others to run in the country’s June 28 presidential election following a helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and seven others. Continue reading
Jun 03 Iran's hard-line parliament speaker emerges as the top figure in the presidential vote By Jon Gambrell, Associated Press Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf is the most-prominent candidate from within its Shiite theocracy in the race to replace the late Ebrahim Raisi after a helicopter crash that killed him and seven others. Continue reading