Iran will hold a run-off presidential election on July 5 after neither of the top candidates secured more than 50% of votes in Friday's polls, the interior ministry said on Saturday.
Presidential candidate Saeed Jalili votes at a polling station in a snap presidential election to choose a successor to Ebrahim Raisi following his death in a helicopter crash, in Tehran, Iran June 28, 2024. Stringer/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Iran will hold a run-off presidential election on July 5 after neither of the top candidates secured more than 50% of votes in Friday's polls, the interior ministry said on Saturday.
The vote to replace Ebrahim Raisi after his death in a helicopter crash came down to a tight race between the sole moderate in a field of four candidates and the supreme leader's hardline protege.
With more than 24 million votes counted moderate lawmaker Massoud Pezeshkian led with over 10 million votes ahead of hardline diplomat Saeed Jalili with over 9.4 million votes, according to provisional results released by the ministry.
Power in Iran ultimately lies with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, so the result will not herald any major policy shift on Iran's nuclear programme or its support for militia groups across the Middle East.
But the president runs the government day-to-day and can influence the tone of Iran's policy.
By Parisa Hafezi
Efforts to reach an interim deal to end hostilities between Iran and the U.S. have intensified, three Iranian sources and a European official told Reuters on Thursday, despite strikes launched by both sides, as the warring parties discuss how to release frozen Iranian funds.
The United States and Iran traded air attacks for a second straight day on Thursday, with President Donald Trump vowing further strikes if Tehran does not immediately agree to a peace deal.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the United States will attack Iran "very hard" if no peace deal is secured and announced the U.S. military secretly escorted ships carrying more than 100 million barrels of oil out of the Strait of Hormuz, moderating global oil prices.
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