Iran
Fear grows as Iran's economy collapses
A new wave of U.S. attacks on Iran has plunged Iranians back into deep uncertainty and anxiety after a period of relative calm while a shaky ceasefire held.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that the turnout in the first round of the country's presidential election was "lower than expected", semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during the 35th anniversary of the death of the leader of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, at Khomeini's shrine in southern Tehran, Iran June 3, 2024. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that the turnout in the first round of the country's presidential election was "lower than expected", semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.
Turnout was about 40%, Iran's interior ministry said - the lowest on record since the 1979 revolution.
"We hope that people's turnout for the second round will be important and a source of pride for the Islamic Republic," Khamenei said, calling upon Iranians to cast their ballot this coming Friday.
Friday's vote will be a tight race between lawmaker Massoud Pezeshkian, the sole moderate in the original field of four candidates, and former Revolutionary Guards member Saeed Jalili.
The election is to elect a successor to President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May.
Khamenei added that the lower-than-expected turnout was due to "several factors" and that claims that non-voters were against the Islamic Republic were "strongly mistaken".
Reporting by Dubai Newsroom, Elwely Elwelly; Editing by Michael Georgy and Alex Richardson
A new wave of U.S. attacks on Iran has plunged Iranians back into deep uncertainty and anxiety after a period of relative calm while a shaky ceasefire held.
Kuwait announced Friday that one of its power generation and water desalination plants had been struck by an Iranian attack, causing significant damage as fighting across the Middle East continued to escalate.
Jordan's air defense systems intercepted and shot down three Iranian missiles that entered the country's airspace early Friday, a military source at the General Command of the Jordan Armed Forces–Arab Army said.
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