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VOA – Iran has returned President Hassan Rouhani to office. State television Saturday declared Rouhani the winner of the presidential vote, easily beating out his closest opponent, hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi. With nearly all the votes counted, Rouhani won well over half of the votes among the four candidates. Massive voter turnout Friday prompted election authorities to extend voting hours …

Radiozamaneh – A presidential race in Iran that began with six candidates is now narrowed down to two main candidates: the moderate President Hassan Rouhani and the hardliner Ebrahim Raisi. On Friday 19 May, the voting stations across Iran open their doors to voters who will choose Iran’s next president as well as their local City and Village councils. Rouhani …

RFL/RE – U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is extending sanctions relief for Iran that was granted under the 2015 nuclear agreement, while imposing new economic penalties over Iranian ballistic-missile activity. The State Department says it is telling Congress it will continue to waive sanctions on Iran as part of the 2015 nuclear deal. The decision comes just before the Obama …

Al-arabia – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that it is not important who will become president after Iran’s presidential election on Friday. He believed it was only important that Wilayat al-Faqih system should win by raising the level of voter participation in the ballot. According to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, Khamenei stated in a speech on Wednesday, “In …

CHRI – Rouhani Criticizes Revolutionary Guard in Firey Speech During his last campaign rally on May 17 in the city of Mashhad–the hometown of his main rival Ebrahim Raisi–Rouhani accused the powerful Revoluntionary Guard and Basij paramilitary forces of interfering in the political process: “We like the Revolutionary Guard and the Basij militia. All we are asking is to carry …

RFL/RE – Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Musavi, who has been under house arrest since 2011, will vote for President Hassan Rohani in Iran’s election on May 19, according to the opposition website Kalameh. The website reported on May 16 that Musavi has requested that security forces bring a mobile ballot box to his residence so that he can cast …

RFL/RE – In a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump on May 16, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to press the United States to refrain from arming Syrian Kurdish rebels that Ankara considers to be terrorists. The White House meeting comes amid intense and complex international diplomacy over the war in Syria, where Turkey and the United States …

RFL/RE – Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has withdrawn from Iran’s presidential race to back hard-line cleric Ebrahim Raisi. In a May 15 statement published by Iranian media, Qalibaf said the decision was vital for the “preservation of the interests of the people, the revolution, and the country.” Qalibaf called on his supporters to vote for Raisi on May 19. …

VOA – A 5.7-magnitude earthquake has hit the Iranian city of Pishqaleh in North Khorasan province, killing two people and injuring at least 225 more, according to IRNA, Iran’s official news agency. The Red Crescent Society said 37 search and rescue teams were sent to the quake-hit region Saturday, immediately after the earthquake struck. Eighty percent of the injured and …

AL-Arabia – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani launched a scathing attack on his conservative election rivals on Monday, saying their era of “violence and extremism” was over. “The people of Iran shall once again announce that they don’t approve of those who only called for executions and jail throughout the last 38 years,” he told a packed stadium in the western …