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Iran Election: Five Things To Know

Published

1 year ago

June 26, 2024

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(FILES) (COMBO) This combination created on June 18, 2024 of handout pictures provided by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) shows Presidential candidates (clockwise) Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Alireza Zakani, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, Masoud Pezeshkian, Saeed Jalili, and Amirhossein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi during a debate at the Iran State television studio in Tehran on June 17, 2024. - Iran on June 9 announced the six candidates, mostly conservatives, approved for the June 28 election to replace president Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash. (Photo by MORTEZA FAKHRINEJAD / IRIB / AFP)

Middle East powerhouse Iran votes on Friday in a snap election to replace President Ebrahim Raisi following his death in a helicopter crash last month.

Here are five facts about the Shiite Muslim country of 85 million people known as the Islamic Republic of Iran.

From Shah to mullahs

Formerly the ancient empire of Persia, Iran was dominated during part of the 20th century by the Pahlavi dynasty.

Shah Mohammad Reza, accused of authoritarianism and criticised for his modernist reforms, fled in 1979 after months of protests.

His main opponent, Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, returned from exile and immediately established an Islamic republic, one of the few that exist in the world.

The authority lies with its supreme leader, who since 1989 has been Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, successor to Khomeini.

The supreme leader’s power is greater than that of the president, who is elected by universal suffrage.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was set up as the ideological defenders of the Islamic Republic after the 1979 revolution.

Veil of contention

Since 1979, Tehran has imposed a strict Islamic code on women, officially to protect them. In public, they are obliged to wear loose clothing and a hijab — a veil covering their hair and neck.

Respect for the veil is required of all Iranians and foreigners, while morality police patrol the streets to ensure compliance.

In September 2022, massive protests broke out across the country after Masha Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurd, died following her arrest by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly breaching the strict dress code.

Hundreds of people were killed and thousands were arrested in the protests.

Iran, which topped the table for the most recorded death penalties in 2023, has executed nine men in cases related to the protests, according to Amnesty International.

Iran and Israel: arch-enemies

Under Raisi, Iran sought improved relations with China and Russia while mending ties with Arab neighbours, mainly its major regional rival Saudi Arabia, to avert deeper isolation.

But its relations with Israel remain particularly fraught and have only grown more tense since Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas launched the October 7 attack on Israel that started the bloodiest-ever Gaza war.

Iran is officially committed to the destruction of what it calls the “Zionist entity”, and in April for the first time launched a direct attack against Israel involving hundreds of missiles and drones, most of which were intercepted.

Nuclear fallout

In 2015, Iran reached a landmark agreement with major powers to accept limits on its nuclear programme in exchange for easing sanctions.

But the United States, under then-president Donald Trump, withdrew from the hard-won deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions.

Iran responded by rolling back most of its commitments.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Iran is the only non-nuclear weapon state to enrich uranium to the high level of 60 per cent — just short of weapons-grade — while it keeps accumulating large uranium stockpiles.

The IAEA has said that Tehran now has enough material to build several atomic bombs.

Filmmakers: prized and jailed

Iran’s cinema is unparalleled in the region, with modern masters including the late Abbas Kiarostami and Asghar Farhadi, a two-time Oscar winner.

But working in film in Iran today can be risky for those who speak out against the authorities.

Several prominent directors have been arrested or jailed, including Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof, who was in the spotlight at this year’s Cannes festival after he fled Iran to escape a jail sentence.

He is now living in exile in Europe.

AFP

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Trump Threatens To Unleash ‘Hell’ On Hamas

Published

23 hours ago

October 4, 2025

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US President Donald Trump has given Hamas until 2200 GMT on Sunday to accept his 20-point plan for peace in Gaza, warning the Palestinian militant group faced “all hell” if it did not agree to the terms.

The US leader set the deadline — which would fall at 1:00 a.m. Monday in Gaza — after an official for the Islamist movement told AFP earlier on Friday that the group still needed time to study the proposal to end nearly two years of devastating war in the Palestinian territory.

“If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

The proposal, backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for a ceasefire, the release of hostages within 72 hours, Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

That would be followed by a post-war transitional authority headed by Trump himself.

“Hamas is still continuing consultations regarding Trump’s plan… and has informed mediators that the consultations are ongoing and need some time,” the official said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly on the matter.

On Tuesday, Trump gave Hamas “three or four days” to accept his plan, which has been welcomed by world powers, including Arab and Muslim nations.

Mohammad Nazzal, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, said in a statement Friday that the “plan has points of concern, and we will announce our position on it soon.”

As Hamas mulled Trump’s peace plan this week, a Palestinian source close to the group’s leadership told AFP on Wednesday that the Islamist movement wanted to amend some clauses, including the one on disarmament.

Hamas leaders also want “international guarantees” for a full Israeli withdrawal and that no assassination attempts would be made inside or outside Gaza, the source added.

Another source familiar with the negotiations told AFP that the group was split over Trump’s plan.

Structurally, the group’s leadership is divided between officials based in the Gaza Strip and those abroad, particularly in Qatar.

Much of Hamas’s leadership has also been wiped out in Israeli attacks throughout the war.

The source told AFP that “the first (opinion) supports unconditional approval, as the priority is a ceasefire under Trump’s guarantees, with mediators ensuring Israel implements the plan”.

“The second has serious reservations regarding key clauses… They favour conditional approval with clarifications reflecting Hamas’s and the resistance factions’ demands,” the source added.

Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said “ultimately it’s not just about convincing Hamas leadership in Doha, but also the leadership in Gaza, as well as Hamas members and fighters in Gaza.”

“Additionally, Hamas must then be able to convince other factions in Gaza,” he added.

The war was triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 66,288 Palestinians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.

Their data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.

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Israeli Forces Strike Gaza Despite Trump’s Ceasefire Call

Published

23 hours ago

October 4, 2025

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Gaza’s civil defence agency said Saturday that Israel carried out dozens of attacks on Gaza City despite US President Donald Trump’s appeal to end bombardments after Hamas accepted a ceasefire deal.

“It was a very violent night, during which the (Israeli army) carried out dozens of air strikes and artillery shelling on Gaza City and other areas in the Strip, despite President Trump’s call to halt the bombing,” civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP.

Bassal, whose agency is a rescue force which operates under Hamas authority, added that 20 homes were destroyed in the overnight bombardments.

“The situation is very serious in Gaza City,” Bassal said, adding that his teams were not able to reach all the casualties due to the “presence of tanks and the ongoing bombardment”.

Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military said it was “checking” reports of overnight bombardments on Gaza City.

Gaza City’s Baptist Hospital said in a statement that it received casualties from a strike on a home in Tuffah neighbourhood, including four dead and “several wounded”.

Nasser Hospital in south Gaza’s Khan Yunis said two children were killed and eight people were wounded in a drone strike on a tent in a camp for displaced Gazans.

The peace plan for Gaza, presented by Trump this week and backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calls for a ceasefire, the release of hostages within 72 hours, Hamas’s disarmament and a gradual Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Hamas said on Friday it was ready to release hostages held in Gaza under the Trump plan, but wanted negotiations on the details and a say in the future of the Palestinian territory.

AFP

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Prosecutors Seek 11-year Sentence For Diddy, Citing ‘Lack Of Remorse’

Published

2 days ago

October 3, 2025

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Prosecutors urged a federal judge Friday to sentence Sean “Diddy” Combs to more than a decade behind bars for his conviction on two prostitution-related counts, saying the music mogul had shown a lack of remorse.

“This is not a person who has accepted responsibility,” prosecutor Christy Slavik told the New York court at Diddy’s sentencing hearing.

“His remorse was qualified. It’s as though he thinks the law doesn’t apply to him,” Slavik said in arguing for an 11-year prison sentence for the 55-year-old hip-hop innovator. ” “His respect for the law is just lip service.”

Combs’s lawyers have asked the judge for a 14-month sentence, which would effectively be time served.

Slavik said Combs had booked speaking engagements in Miami next week in anticipation of a light sentence, which she called “the height of hubris.”

Judge Arun Subramanian for his part said federal sentencing guidelines suggested a prison term of between six and seven years although he has the latitude to impose more or less.

The judge also noted an apparent lack of remorse, saying Combs has “challenged his factual guilt full-throatedly.”

Combs was expected to address the court at the sentencing hearing after submitting a letter to the judge on Thursday pleading for mercy and saying he had “lost my way.”

Following two months of often searing testimony, jurors in July rejected the most serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering against Combs, sparing him the prospect of life in prison.

Combs’s mother and six of his children were in court on Friday and have submitted letters to the judge in his support.

In his plea to the judge, Combs apologised for his conduct, saying he was “scared to death” to be away from his family and vowing he “will never commit a crime again.”

“I lost my way,” he wrote. “I got lost in my journey. Lost in the drugs and the excess.”

Combs’s former girlfriend, Casandra Ventura, asked the judge in a letter of her own to consider “the many lives that Sean Combs has upended with his abuse and control.”

– ‘Humbled and broken’ –

Ventura, the 39-year-old singer known as Cassie, testified for days while heavily pregnant.

She described in wrenching detail physical, emotional and sexual abuse she suffered while in a more than decade-long relationship with Combs.

Ventura and another woman, identified as Jane, said they were coerced into performing so-called “freak-offs”: sexual marathons with hired men that Combs directed and sometimes filmed.

“The entire courtroom watched actual footage of Combs kicking and beating me as I tried to run away from a freak off in 2016,” Ventura wrote.

“People watched this footage dozens of times, seeing my body thrown to the ground, my hands over my head, curled into a fetal position to shield me from the worst blows,” she said, noting she has nightmares and flashbacks “on a regular, everyday basis.”

Ventura said she and her family had left the New York area for fear of “retribution” from Combs if he is released.

The defense didn’t deny Combs’s sexual activity but insisted it was consensual.

They also didn’t deny Combs’s years of violence against both romantic partners as well as employees — but they said it didn’t meet the legal threshold for the grave charges he faced.

Jurors took their side.

The conviction on lesser if still serious counts stemmed from a federal statute that makes it illegal to transport people across state lines for prostitution.

Combs has been incarcerated in Brooklyn for more than a year.

He said his time in prison has left him “reborn.”

“I have been humbled and broken to my core,” Combs wrote.
AFP