For Iranian reformists, the twin parliament and Assembly of Experts elections on February 26 were also a chance to blow new life to their presence in the power circle of the Islamic Republic which they lost after their rejection of the results of the 2009 presidential elections, leading to street riots and months of chaos in the capital city of Tehran.

Almost six years after those days, Reformists are cheering the election gains and are ecstatic about their unexpected wins in the ballot boxes and sweeping Principalists off parliament seats in the Tehran constituency.

However, the results in the other cities are different and both Principalists and Reformists have enough seats to be influential in the next parliament and the Assembly of Experts, but the fact that almost all of the Principalists’ prominent figures in Tehran failed to find their way into the Parliament (and in case of the Assembly of Experts, only Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati was elected ranking 16th out of the 16 seats reserved for the Tehran constituency) is a major blow to them which had the upper hand over the course of the past decade.

Though Reformists’ gain in the elections is also a result of their coalition with government supporters, known as the Moderates, as well as some moderate Principalist figures such as Ali Motahhari which led them to support coalition lists for the twin elections, the fact that Reformists could gain such a major support from the people is an undeniable reality for the political power sphere of the Islamic Republic and on the other hand this victory poses, at the same time, an opportunity and a threat for the winning Reformists.

Will Reformists seize the opportunity?

After 2009’s post-election disputes and street riots, many Reformist leaders were arrested and many of their aides who spurred the public into street riots had to flee the country; subsequently, the leadership in Iran lost its faith in the movement and to loyalty of prominent Reformist leaders. This lack of confidence in the Reformist movement and absence of its leaders and forces beside consecutive defeats in the national and local elections pushed reformist figures out of the political scene, minimizing their role.

After Hassan Rouhani won the 2013 presidential election, he tried to pave the way for the return of Reformists to the country’s political circle, while, he himself is not a Reformist and even was a serious critic of them while he served as the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

The full participation of the reformists in the recent elections (even Reformists’ leaders under house arrest invited their supporters to participate in the elections) and then the results of the recent twin elections and especially the landslide victory of the Reformists in Tehran showed that the movement is coming back into the political sphere of the country and will revive its status as a legitimate game-changer.

Now, it’s about time for Reformist leaders to engage in direct talks with the political leadership of the system and to iron out misunderstandings and address the existing issues with them. Overestimating their reemerging power and making the same mistake of playing the role of staunch opponents of the Islamic Republic can lead them to a process which will not have better results than they gain in recent years. But a negotiated resolution not only will recreate the confidence and trust of the Islamic Republic to them but will secure their return to highest levels of the power in the country.

Dangers of a victory

If one was to study the voting pattern of the Iranians in last three decades, they would see Iranians mostly (if not always) make pragmatist decisions and never support a particular group because of their theoretical aims and promising rhetoric. Iranians evaluate the records of an official and after providing them enough time, they would decide to whether continue their support or terminate it. Unexpected victories of the Former reformist President Mohammad Khatami in 1997 and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005 presidential elections are good examples of how different choices Iranian people can make due to their experience of the incumbent officials.

For this reason, Rouhani’s government- which turned to be a facilitator for the return of Reformism – will have a critical time for the rest of its tenure. Now the Parliament is also in line with the government and in case the government fails in fulfilling its promises, Principalists cannot be blamed as being the trouble makers! While people are hoping for a better economic situation after giving Rouhani more than two years to reach a nuclear deal, possible excessive concentration of Reformists on their political causes may undermine their ability to make significant and tangible changes in the life of ordinary people and so lose their votes in future Presidential elections, after less than two years.

In the words of the senior reformist leader Mohammadreza Aref during his campaign for the 2013 Presidential election, each time both government and the parliament was controlled by one party the outcome was not satisfactory.

Another threat to the Reformists is their inability in understanding the ordinary and the lower-classes especially in the small cities. They are the sources that provided Ahmadinejad with enough vote to win two Presidential elections against the robust rivals from the Reformist and Conservative circles. Today’s threat to Reformism is to make their usual mistake of confusing Tehran and large cities’ political tendency with national sentiments and ignoring lower- classes and ordinary people for who politics is not a priority.

Next presidential elections will be the scene of a critical completion between the Moderates/ Reformists who were controlling two important sources of power for at least two years and the Principalists who were out of power for the same period. I believe it will be the incumbent government’s economic record that will determine the next winner.

The post How Iranian Reformists’ Victory Can Turn Into Defeat? first appeared on .

During the interview, Abbasi argued that Stuxnet malware was not the first and last of such attacks by the US and Israel against Tehran’s nuclear program and said they have repeatedly infiltrated Iranian nuclear facilities’ supply chains in recent years.

Abbasi maintained that western espionage agencies also continuously use the IAEA reports about Iran’s nuclear activities and glean details about the program in a bid to sabotage its progress.

“The IAEA has access to all the details about uranium enrichment processes in Iran,” said Abbasi.

“We have so far arrived at the conclusion that western intelligence agencies calibrate their moves based on the leaked IAEA reports and only by the reports they are able to size up the level of destruction they have exerted on our nuclear machinery and equipment.

For example, the IAEA constantly requires Iran to provide the agency with the updated Design Information Questioner (DIQ) in which Tehran gives out data about the design and progress of its nuclear facilities. The DIQ also carried intelligence such as the pieces Iran needs to progress its projects in the facilities. On the other hand, intelligence agencies, with access to the IAEA reports, trace companies that produce such pieces as mentioned in the DIQ, put them under pressure to reject Iran’s bids for the purchase of the pieces or make them booby-trap the devices, use malfunctioning materials in their construction and set up viruses in their control systems.”

The Stuxnet virus was one of the most destructive attacks carried by the US and Israel against Iran’s nuclear program. A while ago,
Christian Science Monitor released an article about the virus which uncovered new details about its infiltration method into Iran’s Natanz nuclear fuel-enrichment facility.

The article well supports Professor Abbasi’s assertions about the virus and adds that there is sufficient evidence that western intelligence agencies tampered with the devices and booby-trapped them where possible.

“Spy agencies adjust their attacks based on our needs; they obstruct conventional channels to our purchases and leave open only those that they can exert full control over to transfer their modified stuff to our facilities. This is how they penetrated our electronic infrastructures, bugged on us and installed malwares like the Stuxnet. They set up the virus in the gauges we had purchased from Siemens and also putted explosives in the devices,” Abbasi revealed for first time. 

The former IAEO chief also believes that Siemens is influenced by American and Israeli spy agencies and was involved with installation of the Stuxnet. He also underlined that the German Siemens and the British Edwards have remained in close contacts with espionage agencies.

As Abbasi noted, the West’s anti-Iran plots are wide-ranging and go much beyond Stuxnet; the original material used for making diaphragms in the imported vacuum valves were replaced with stuff that would easily wear off when faced with UF6 gas.

“They also manipulated  some electro motors we bought and added some specific boards which were covered by resin. 60 of such manipulated electro motors were sold to us. Another example I can say is the valve pupms that we wanted to buy from AEG but the intelligence services intercepted the shipment of those pumps and manipulated them.”

The large number of cyber attacks as well as technical mischief by the West compels Iran to act more warily when providing details for the IAEA through the DIQs.

“By accessing the leaked data from our reports they can tell how many centrifuges are operating in Iranian nuclear facilities and how many are about to be installed with what parts needed. Therefore, we shall prevent giving such data to the agency or delay the DIQs at least until the projects are fulfilled.”

 Concerns Over Israeli – American Military Action

Abbasi also said that the Islamic Republic of Iran was concerned about a military operation by the US and Israel against its nuclear facilities based on the data Iran provides the agency with. This is why updates about new construction projects like Arak heavy-water reactor were given to the agency only after the project was surreptitiously completed.

” We had to keep it to ourselves when we intended to replace the Arak reactor vessel because it could spur westerners into reactions like making threats or assassination attempts of Iranian scientists.”

So Iran concealed the reactor vessel for a few years till the replacement operation was done.

Former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization says the country had received information that there was possibility of hitting the reactor vessel by Stinger missiles.

“Deformation of the reactor vessel could make it nonstandard and the IAEA would not approve the use of it. So we tried to hide our workhouse from the enemies’ sight,” he said. 

Threatening and sabotage against Iran’s nuclear program were not limited to military action or manipupalting the components but US and Israel also tried to threaten or murder the scientists and Iran’s nuclear program brains to stop the progress of the program.

From 2010 through 2012, five key Iranian nuclear scientists were murdered. Iran has vehemently condemned the Zionist regime for the terrors while the regime has never even bothered to deny the allegations.

Araqchi, a senior member of the Iranian team of negotiators in the talks with the group of P5+1, also complained in 2012  that the IAEA’s careless handling of Iran’s secret information has caused a leak in the list of the names of Iran’s nuclear scientists and their
assassination by the Zionist regime of Israel.

Iran’s Intelligence Ministry also detected some of Mossad’s bases within the territories of one of Iran’s Western neighbors, which
provided training and logistic support to the terrorist networks.

Although Mossad has not been able to carry out its assassination attempts given the rise of security measures by Iran for its nuclear scientists, the agency still threatens to put dangers to the families of the scientists and themselves.

“They once ordered a florist to set up a bouquet with a card which carried condolences to the family of an Iranian nuclear engineer to his family outside of the Iran. The bouquet reached the engineer’s family while he was safe and sound working in one of the facilities in Iran. By such moves the mar the conditions with threats and insecurity,” Abbasi said.

“They also have access to names and contact numbers of key personnel which can be used as means for obtaining further intelligence about individuals leading to their terror and assassination. They have even faked pictures of Iranian scientists murdered being shown on Iranian national TV and sent the video to the scientists as a death warning.”

The post How West Infiltrated Iran’s Nuclear Program, Ex-Top Nuclear Official Explains first appeared on .

“True approaches of the revolution set by Imam Khomeini are clear and there’s no need to re-evaluate,” he said on Sunday.

Ayatollah Khamenei once again criticized the post 2009 election street riots and said: “Power transition in Iran was always calm and smooth, except for 2009 in which some people made blunders and pushed the country on the verge of collapse.”

“The Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation proposed a new model to the world; a healthy power transition without the common tricks in the west,” He added.

The Leader Defends Ahmadinejad’s Records

At the beginning of the session, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad read the report on what has been done in his 8 years of presidency.

Ayatollah Khamenei implicitly criticized some remarks by reformists against Ahmadinejad.

Newly elected president Hassan Rowhani was also present in the session. Ayatollah Khamenei’s remark to the next administration revealed that the Leader is not content with reformists cruel criticizing Ahmadinejad’s administration and believes that Ahmadinejad made more good in his administration than his failures.

“Every administration should take a positive look at his predecessor. It is worthy that the next administration shows as much enthusiasm and energy as the previous one.”

Stressing on the Diplomacy of Resistance

He also noted actions of some of the foreign countries against Iran, saying “Arrogant powers, some western leaders and some weak regional leaders formed a huge front against Iran that has not been done against any other country,”

“We have to be patient and resist the enemy front. We have to strengthen our national and domestic power to continue our advancement and reaching Idealistic goals,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.

He insisted on officials not to recoil on foreign pressures and said: “Our officials shouldn’t hesitate when facing political, economic and propaganda pressures by the enemies,”

“Senior officials, law makers and all officials in the country should focus on two main priorities which are economic issues and scientific advancement.”

“Our pace in scientific advancement in the past 10 years was very significant but we shouldn’t slow down. Because we have to keep pace to reach the front lines of science in the world.”

Interactions With the World is OK but US Proved We Shouldn’t Be Optimistic

“We have always believed in the interaction with the world but any interaction must be based on a proper recognition of the other side,” he said.

He reiterated the importance of noting other countries’ history with Iran and said: “When interacting with the world, we should not forget our enemy’s history; even if we don’t speak of it for some reasons.”

“I have previoulsy said that I’m not optimistic about direct talks, even though I didn’t bar direct talks in special circumstances like in Iraq.” said the Supreme Leader regarding recent remarks by US officials for direct talks.

“US officials are untrustworthy and not logical and not honest,” he said.

“US officials’ remarks in the past several months show that we shouldn’t be optimistic,” He added.

Hassan Rowhani said several times that he’s after improving relations with the world.

We can take the Leader’s remarks about interaction with the world as a rule of law for the next administration

“One should continue his path in global interaction without being stopped by enemies and it is harmful to make a U turn when interacting with the world.”

The post Iran’s Leader Sets The Tone For The Rowhani’s Administration first appeared on .

– This election was a response to all the accusations against the Islamic Republic and its purity.

 – Islamic Republic’s founder taught us that the country should be ruled by people according to Islamic laws.

 – Iranians chose a new path. The future administration should act according to the will majority of voters. Iranians voted for moderation and logic.

– I’ve heard many people who didn’t vote that they are sorry that they didn’t participate in the glorious election. They usually say they didn’t know it was going to turn out like this.

On the next administration’s approach:

– The future administration should avoid extremism. Iranians demanded national unity.  People demanded implementing the law. The government is obliged to treat people equally according to law.

 – Moderation should be present in every aspect of the country.

– I have discussed with the President Ahmadinejad to facilitate the transition process.

-The future administration is faithful to its promises. This administration is not from one political faction and is not committed to one party. I welcome every politician from any political faction, only if they are moderate.

On the Foreign Policy:

 -We are facing a unique situation in our foreign policy. Our foreign policy is neither a contentiousness nor animosity.

– We have to cooperate with other countries according to our mutual interests. We have to take confidence building steps.

Excerpts collected from our partner NasimOnline.

The post Excerpts From The New President’s First Live Speech: Iranians Chose a New Path first appeared on .

Almost 40 days have passed since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s close companion, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, was disqualified for candidacy in presidential election and the president’s silence so far has surprised many.

His controversial and exaggerating support for Mashaei, especially in the last six months prior to the election was to an extent which made many expect an eruptive reaction from him.

Mashaei is Ahmadinejad’s longtime close friend whose actions, as many critics say, decreased the president’s popularity. He has had overstatements and exorbitant talks about sacred principals of Islam and Shiism and is also charged with political and economical corruption, but Ahmadinejad has insisted many times that “I am Mashaei, and Mashaei is me”. Upon his disqualification, the president said he would pursuit the case to the last minute via the leader and hoped the issue would be solved.

“The president met the leader tree times and requested for his special order [on the issue] but the leader did not accept his requests,” said Haj Sadeghi, the deputy of the representative of the Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

It is not clear if Ahmadinejad did other things too but in a gathering held on June 24, when he spoke to his supporters he said sarcastically, “They omitted a number of the pure and the believer and many were sad and contacted me regularly,” He did not mention any names but political observers say he was referring to disqualification of Mashaei.        

The president’s supporters and even many of his critics expected the president to attack the main organizations of the system, especially the Guardian Council, but unbelievably he did nothing and pretended to obey the law.

Ahmadinejad’s “mere” silence was so strange that led political observers make two analyses.

A small group of observers who believe in the first analysis still are waiting for Ahmadinejad’s political attack. They believe the president is adding to his indirect protest with suspending his provincial trips and doing nothing for the economy. These analysts say the president is angry about the big defeat of his men in the presidential and city council elections and the cases against him in the judiciary and has a special plan to punish his critics even if only one day remains from his administration.

But the second group of analysts rejects the first analysis and makes a totally different argument in response to it. They say during recent years, Dr. Ahmadinejad and his friends have reached to this conclusion that standing against original and principal organizations of the Islamic Republic and creating tensions in the country would lead to a decline in their popular votes and omission from the country’s political system. According to them, for several reasons it is not expected from Ahmadinejad to make any upheaval in the remaining days of his presidency:

1. Considering the two orders by the leader, one regarding the vice presidency of Mashaei and the other regarding the ministry of information, Ahmadinejad thought he could make the system back off but his prediction turned wrong. He also has seen that even during the 2009 protests and riots the system did not back off from its position and did not nullify the votes so he would not make the same mistake over Mashaei’s disqualification.
2. Inability to control economic problems that led to increased financial pressure against the people, paying little attention to the sacred, and disagreeing with some rules and leader’s advices weaken his social standing. The president cannot make tension in the society when he does not have popular support.
3. The president does not want to make himself a center of hatred forever with making a not very useful tension in the country
4. He wants to remain as a peaceful and oppressed figure in the mind of the people, leaving good memories behind himself and giving himself the chance of returning to top positions again.
5. He does not want to compensate the chance of getting away from the charges against him and his friends in several economic and political suits for a political upheaval which does not have a clear result.
6. A political attack might destroy the president’s critics but its costs would be more than its benefits and it would be more like a suicidal action and not a contemplated action.
7. If Ahmadinejad wanted to create tension he would do it before the election but his silence then showed he was not willing to do so.

Based on these reasons the second analysis seems to be closer to reality and thus we should not expect more tensions and upheavals from the president.

The post Ahmadinejad’s Mysterious Silence On The Rejectection Of His Preferred Candidate first appeared on .

I have prepared my chest for every spear and I am not afraid of anything in the way of justice,” he said, adding that he would continue his way despite some putting obstacles in his way.
One of the key speakers in the conference was Gholam Hossein Elham, the government’s spokesman, who praised the president for his services. He officially inaugurated the “No Cut Press” website that has been newly launched by a group of Ahmadinejad supporters.
A number of Ahmadinezjad’s top officials including Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, the controversial advisor to the president, were present at the conference. The participants shouted slogans in support of Ahmadinejad and Mashaei.

The post “The Unassuming Servant of the Nation” Held in Honor of the Iran’s Ahmadinejad first appeared on .

Lebanese Foreign Minister, Adnan Mansour traveled to Tehran on Saturday by the invitation of his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi and two sides discussed regional issues with a focus on Syrian crisis.

“The west talks about human right but send weapons to Syrian terrorists,” said Salehi in a joint press conference with Mansour.

“Iran will never let other impose their will on Syria, The Syrian should decide for their fate,” Salehi said.

Lebanese FM also criticized western efforts to send weapons to anti Syrian government fighters.

“The current Syrian government is the legitimate. Sending weapons for one side of the conflict will not solve the crisis,” he said.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also slammed the decision of sending weapons to the Syrian rebels on Sunday.

In a meeting with Lebanese Foreign Minister he said: “Enemies try to dominate the region and Syria is part of their scenario. We should be vigil and not get deluded by their plans. Violence would not solve the Syrian crisis and both sides should negotiate,” he said.

A spokesman for the foreign-backed Takfiri militants in Syria said the armed groups have been supplied with heavy weapons by ‘brotherly nations’.

Louay Muqdad, the media coordinator of the terrorist Free Syrian Army (FSA), told CNN on June 21 that the new weapons “will be a turning point” in the conflict and will “definitely change the rules of the war on the ground.”

“We have received quantities of new types of weapons, including some that we asked for and that we believe will change the course of the battle on the ground.”

Hussein Amir Abdollahian, Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African affairs is another Iranian official that criticize the western stance regard Syria.

“Those who support providing weapons to Syrian rebels are responsible for the civilian’s lives. The U.S. and U.K. made several strategy mistakes in Syria,” he said on Sunday.

The secretary of Iran’s National Security Council also met with the Lebanese FM on Sunday.

In the meeting Saeed Jalili a candidate of Iran’s Presidential election said: “Sending weapons to Syrian terrorists by some countries is a threat to international security.”

The post Iran’s President, FM and NSA Slam Arming Syria Rebels first appeared on .

Following the winning of Iranian national soccer team, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei congratulated the victory of Iranian team thanked the players for making Iranians happy.

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadienjad and the president-elect Hassan Rowhani also issued statements congratulating the victory of Iranian team against South Korea.

National Iranian soccer team has secured its place at the FIFA 2014 World Cup in Brazil, after it recorded a 1-0 victory against South Korea on Tuesday.

The 2014 tournament in Brazil will mark Iran’s fourth World Cup appearance.

The post Photos: Celebrations in Iran After Soccer Team Qualifies for 2014 World Cup first appeared on .

On Monday his answers were surprising for all observers.

Of course the election of Rowhani as Iran’s new president will make some changes on the country’s methods in dealing with internal and international issues but it is unrealistic if one expects Rowhani a moderate cleric to make substantial changes on Iran’s policies.

As IransView’s Abdullah Almasi explained earlier Rowhani is not a real reformist and lacked the popularity of the Reformists’ main candidate Mohammad Reza Aref whose followers ended up unifying behind the previously Fundamentalist Rowhani.

Following Rowhani’s victory in Iran’s Presidential election, western leaders reacted positively and expressed hope that Rowhani would take Iran on a ‘different course.’

“The expectations of the international community with regard to Iran are significant, especially about its nuclear programme and its involvement in Syria, ” French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said in a statement shortly after Rowhani won the Iran’s election.

In the President-elect’s first press conference a reporter of France24 recalled the time that Mr. Rowhani as the Secretary of Iran’s National Security Council suspended Iran’s nuclear activities and asked whether he is ready to suspend nuclear enrichment again as a confidence building step. “That era is behind us,” Rowhani replied.

The decision of the Reformist government in 2004 (when Rowhani was Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator) to suspend all of Iran’s nuclear activities attracted a lot of criticism because the West failed to abide by its promises and to normalize Iran’s nuclear dossier.

In the last months of the Reformist government of Mohammad Khatami Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei ordered the reformist government to cancel the voluntary suspension of nuclear activities and later the Principalist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would win the election by promising to reactivate Iran’s nuclear activities in his campaigns.

Now after 8 years of significant progress in Iran’s peacefull nuclear program, Hassan

Rowhani says a suspension of nuclear activities is a step backward.

“Our nuclear programme is completely transparent,” Mr Rowhani said on Monday in his presser.

He also condemned sanctions against Iran by saying “The sanctions are unfair and our (nuclear) activities are legal. These sanctions are illegal and only benefit Israel.”

On Iran’s stance toward Syria also Rowhani showed no change from the past.

“Our stance on Syria will never change,” Rowhani said.

“The final decision-maker about the fate of Syria is the Syrian nation, we oppose terrorism and a civil war and that other countries want to interfere in Syria’s internal affairs.”

Regarding Iran-US relations Rowhani also did not show a significant difference to the stance of Ayatollah Khamenei.

The issue of “Iran’s relations with the United States is a complicated and difficult one,” said Rowhani, adding “anyway we will not pursue any escalation of tensions.”

“Any talks with the United States should be based on mutual respect and interests as well as being on an equal footing,” said Rowhani repeating the Supreme Leader’s words regarding the issue.

The resumption of negotiations with the United States has a number of pre- conditions,” Rowhani said on Monday in his first press conference.

“U.S. officials should not interfere in Iran’s internal affairs as they have committed to in the [1981] Algeria accord. They should recognize all Iranian rights including nuclear rights. And the United States should give up unilateral measures against Iran.”

Among the chief provisions of the Algeria accord between Iran and the US were that ‘The US would not intervene politically or militarily in Iranian internal affairs’ and ‘The US would remove a freeze on Iranian assets and trade sanctions on Iran’ both of which were violated by the US.

The surprise for internal and external observers was not only Rowhani’s alignment with Iran’s current foreign policy, but also that some hardline reformist media also failed to see a sign of a big change in internal affairs.

“I’m the president of all of Iranians,” Rowhani replied when a reformist reporter asked him to reward reformists who backed him in the presidential election.

“Firstly I appreciate all individual and parties who supported me in the election campaign but please don’t forget that I’m the president of all Iranians.”

Rowhani also refused to answer a couple of questions asked by reformist reporters about the two reformist leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi who are under house arrest since the post 2009 election unrest.

Rowhani’s reply to a reporter who insisted that Rowhani promise to invite Mohammad Reza Aref, the reformists’ candidate who quit the election race by request of Mr. Khatami was not clear and it seems Mr. Aref is still upset because the Reformist voters left him to support Rowhani. Aref said repeatedly in his election campaign that he does not recognize Rowhani as a reformist and he is the only candidate of the Reformists.

“I’ll invite all those qualified to cooperate with my government including Mr. Aref but it depends on Aref if he accepts the invitation, he may not be willing to be involved in my administration,” Rowhani said.

The post Don’t Expect Drastic Changes From Rowhani first appeared on .

Stay Updated Here With Live Iranian Election Coverage!

According to the latest official results announced by Iran’s Interior Ministry with 23,014,873 ballots counted so far, the moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani is leading with 11,754,013 votes which is 51.07% of the counted votes followed by Tehran’s Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf with 3,494,938 which is 15.19% of the counted votes.

If a candidate wins over 50 percent of the vote in the first round, he will replace the incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Otherwise a run-off will be held in a week’s time to determine a final winner in the race.

The post Latest Iran Election Info: 80% Turn Out Moderate Rowhani Leading With 50% first appeared on .