Ayatollah Ali Khamenei News

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave Sunday his official endorsement of Masoud Pezeshkian as the Islamic republic's ninth president, following snap elections won by the reformist camp's candidate.

Masoud Pezeshkian won Iran's runoff presidential election Saturday, besting hard-liner Saeed Jalili by promising to reach out to the West and ease enforcement on the country's mandatory headscarf law after years of sanctions and protests squeezing the Islamic Republic. Pezeshkian promised no radical changes to Iran's Shiite theocracy in his campaign and long has held Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as the final arbiter of all matters of state in the country. But even Pezeshkian's modest aims will be challenged by an Iranian government still largely held by hard-liners, the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, and Western fears over Tehran enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade levels.

Iran will not respond to pressure, President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian said in a statement published on Saturday, in which he also highlighted his country's friendship with China and Russia. Pezeshkian, a relative moderate who beat a hardline rival in elections, also reiterated that Iran does not seek nuclear weapons, adding that Tehran would expand ties with neighbours and engage with Europe. «The United States...needs to recognise the reality and understand, once and for all, that Iran does not — and will not — respond to pressure (and) that Iran's defence doctrine does not include nuclear weapons,» Pezeshkian said in the statement, titled «My message to the new world» and published in the daily Tehran Times.

Ebrahim Raisi, an official said Saturday, after an initial vote saw the top candidates not secure an outright win. The election this coming Friday will pit reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian against the hard-line former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

Around 61 million Iranians are eligible to vote in the polls where reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, 69, hopes for a breakthrough win against a divided conservative camp.

Ebrahim Raisi. Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, 53, dropped his candidacy and urged other candidates to do the same “so that the front of the revolution will be strengthened," PTI reported.Ghazizadeh Hashemi was one of Raisi's vice presidents and the head of the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs.

Six candidates have been approved by Iran’s theocracy to run in Friday’s presidential election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash with several other officials in May

parliament and five others to run in the country's June 28 presidential election following a helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and seven others. The council again barred former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a firebrand populist known for the crackdown that followed his disputed 2009 re-election, from running.

Iran's military said no evidence of foul play or attack had been found so far during investigations into the helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi, state media reported on Friday. Raisi, a hardliner who had been seen as a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed when his helicopter came down in poor weather in mountains near the Azerbaijan border on Monday.

Ebrahim Raisi, seen as a possible successor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has reshuffled the cards in the succession process and increased the spotlight on the Iranian number one's son Mojtaba as a contender. While analysts emphasise it is impossible to know for sure the intentions of Iran's leadership, Raisi's record as a pillar of the Islamic republic over several decades made him an inevitable candidate to become its third supreme leader after Khamenei and revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Also Read: Gold price today: MCX Gold falls over half a per cent; what should be your strategy for bullion today? However, Brent crude oil was trading 0.92% lower at $82.94 a barrel, while the US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures was down 0.80% to $79.16 per barrel. MCX crude oil prices fell 0.41% to ₹6,552.

Ebrahim Raisi, in a helicopter crash on Sunday is unlikely to result in immediate changes to Iran's ruling system, which Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei determines. However, Raisi was widely viewed as a leading candidate to succeed the 85-year-old supreme leader. His sudden death raises the possibility that Khamenei's son could eventually assume the position.

at Israel, on Saturday night, in what is being called first direct clash between the two enemy nations engaged in a shadow war for years. Until now, Iran had been involved in the war through its proxies. Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said the attack was aimed at specific targets.’ Earlier, country’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had vowed to ‘retaliate’ after an alleged Israeli strike on April 1 on its consulate in Damascus, Syria killed seven IRGC officers, including a top commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi.

Middle East closer to a regionwide war. More than 200 drones along with ballistic and cruise missiles were sent towards Israel. The US forces extended support to Israel by shooting down ‘nearly all’ drones and missiles, while pledging to convene G7 meeting to develop a unified response.

an attack in Damascus, Syria. Tehran had accused Israel of launching airstrike on a consulate building. It had reportedly killed 13 people, including a senior member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force.

Israel was on alert Thursday after its arch-foe Iran threatened reprisals over a strike in Syria this month that killed two Iranian generals, and as the war against Hamas ground on in Gaza. Days after Israel strengthened its air defences and paused leave for combat units, the United States also warned of the risk of an attack by Iran or its allied groups at a time when Middle East tensions have soared. Iran is «threatening to launch a significant attack on Israel», US President Joe Biden said Wednesday, pledging «ironclad» support for its top regional ally despite diplomatic tensions over Israel's military conduct in Gaza.

A shop in Iran’s capital has been offering consumers in the Islamic Republic one of the hottest products in the country — an iPhone that came out in 2021

Meta has removed Instagram and Facebook accounts run on behalf of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei after criticism over his support for Hamas after its Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked the monthslong war still raging in the Gaza Strip

By Aziz El Yaakoubi and Vladimir Soldatkin

Oil prices edged higher in early trade on Thursday as the conflict in the Middle East kept investors on edge about whether it could disrupt oil supplies around the region. Brent crude futures rose 38 cents at $85.01 a barrel by 0000 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures gained 46 cents at $80.90 a barrel. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Muslim states to cease oil and food exports to Israel, demanding an end to its bombardment of the Gaza Strip, state media reported. Iran, a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), produced around 2.5 million barrels per day of crude in 2022, according to U.S.

Joe Biden has sent a rare message to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warning Tehran against targeting U.S. personnel in the Middle East, the White House said on Thursday after a spate of attacks on American forces in the region. «There was a direct message relayed,» White House spokesman John Kirby said at a news briefing, declining to elaborate. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. U.S. officials want to avoid a wider conflict in the Middle East following the Oct. 7 attack by the militant Hamas group on Israel that killed at least 1,400 people, mostly civilians. About 900 additional U.S. troops are headed to the region or have recently arrived there to bolster air defenses to protect U.S. personnel amid a surge in attacks in the region by Iran-affiliated groups, the Pentagon said.