Free Republic

Iran elected Masoud Pezeshkian to its presidency, in an unexpected victory for the country's reformist camp amid deep social discontent, economic hardship, and regional war...Pezeshkian won 16.3 million votes...with the election seeing a 49.8% turnout...His rival Saeed Jalili, a hard-line right-wing former nuclear negotiator, finished the race with 13.5 million votes.

After the helicopter crash on May 19, 2024, that claimed the life of former president Ebrahim Raisi, the Iranian mullah regime swiftly scheduled early elections.Not being a particularly competent bunch, they announced the fictional date of Friday, June 31. They held the vote on Saturday.These elections were orchestrated under the watchful eye of the ailing 85-year-old Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, who aimed to use this occasion to solidify his succession plan. While it appeared that Saeed Jalili, a former Revolutionary Guard general close to Khamenei, was set to win, the historically low voter turnout effectively transformed the electoral process into...

A top Iranian official tweeted a photo of the country’s flag following Iran’s attack on Iraqi air bases housing US troops. The post by Saeed Jalili, Iran’s former nuclear negotiator, was an apparent response to President Trump, who tweeted a photo of the American flag last week after the US killed Iran’s top military general.

Iran's Khamenei names new security council representative Jun 28, 2008 NICOSIA (AFP) - Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday named top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili as his representative on the national security council, of which Jalili is already secretary, state media reported. Jalili succeeds former nuclear chief and current parliament speaker Ali Larijani as Khamenei's representative. "You are expected to be able to help the power and independence of the Islamic system by active participation and constant exchange of views with me," Khamenei said in a letter to Jalili carried by the state broadcaster. Jalili, who is a...

Ali Larijani's resignation is a complete surprise, and very significant. As Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, he has been a key figure in attempts to broker a compromise with the West over Iran's nuclear programme. His departure could be the start of a major shift in policy. It is an open secret in Tehran that Mr Larijani has had big differences with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over how to proceed over the nuclear programme. Like almost everyone in Iran, Mr Larijani supports the programme. He is certainly no "liberal", even in Iranian terms. He stood for president at the last election, a...