Celebration in streets of Tehran as hardliner Saeed Jalili falls further behind in second round, with mixed picture of turnout

The reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian’s lead against hardliner Saeed Jalili widened early on Saturday to over 2m votes as counting continued in Iran’s presidential runoff election.

Supporters of Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and longtime lawmaker, entered the streets of Tehran and other cities before dawn to celebrate as his lead grew over Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator close to Iran’s supreme leader .

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Iranian-Swedish citizen Saeed Azizi also exchanged for Hamid Noury, who was serving life in Sweden for role in death of political prisoners

Johan Floderus, the Swedish EU diplomat held in captivity for two years in Iran, has been freed and is on his way home, the Swedish prime minister announced.

Ulf Kristersson said on Saturday that the Iranian lifer Hamid Noury was being exchanged for Johan Floderus and the Iranian-Swedish citizen Saeed Azizi.

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The regime is allowing a reformist to run because it wants to ensure more of the same. It will take a better offer to win back the people

The death of Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, in a helicopter crash last month was a shock. The 63‑year‑old hardliner was not only expected to run for a second term, but to be part of the looming transition: the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is 85 and has health problems. Some had even thought Raisi might succeed him.

Yet the repercussions have been muted. The first round of the presidential election is scheduled for 28 June, but no one expects Raisi’s replacement to bring significant political change . The regime’s priorities are continuity and stability. It knows it may soon have to reckon with the hostility of a second Trump administration and it faces widespread discontent at home, following the suppression of the massive Woman, Life, Freedom protests. The evidence of recent years suggest that it is more worried about conservative consolidation at the top than legitimacy from below.

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Zahedi was a commander of al-Quds force and the most senior Iranian military official to be killed since the assassination of Qassem Suleimani

• Middle East crisis – live updates

Israeli strikes on Iran’s consulate in Syria have left at least 11 people dead – among them Brig Gen Mohammad Reza Zahedi, the highest-ranking Iranian military official to be killed since the January 2020 assassination of Gen Qassem Suleimani in Baghdad.

Zahedi was a senior commander in al-Quds force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) clandestine foreign intelligence and paramilitary wing. He commanded units in Lebanon and Syria and was most likely a critical figure in Tehran’s relationship with Hezbollah and Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad.

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Pouria Zeraati ‘ feeling better’ and recovering under supervision of Met police

The Iranian International TV presenter who was stabbed outside his home in west London last week has said he has left hospital and is staying in a safe place.

Pouria Zeraati, 36, said he was on the mend after his traumatic ordeal on Friday afternoon and thanked people for the kind messages and “love” they had sent him during his stay in hospital.

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Several people killed in airstrike, including Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi and his deputy

Iran has vowed revenge after Israeli war planes destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing at least eleven people, including a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds force.

Iran’s leaders in Tehran described the targeting of a diplomatic mission late on Monday as unprecedented and promised a harsh response.

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Iran state media report senior Iranian Guards commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi killed after strike in Syrian capital

• Israeli airstrike on Iran consulate in Syria kills six including IRGC commander

Emergency services have been working at the scene of the site in the Mezzeh district of Damascus, where several people have been killed after Israeli warplanes destroyed the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital.

Reporters at the scene saw smoke rising from the rubble of a building that had been flattened, and emergency vehicles parked outside.

I intend to act immediately in accordance with the new law to stop the channel’s activity.

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Mohammad Reza Zahedi of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps among fatalities in Syria attack

Israeli warplanes have struck the Iranian consulate in Damascus, killing six people reportedly including a senior commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Reporters at the scene in the Mezzeh district of the Syrian capital saw smoke rising from the rubble of a building that had been flattened, and emergency vehicles parked outside.

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Researchers studying satellite data show slope near village of Hoseynabad-e Kalpush moved after reservoir began to be filled

In recent decades there has been a dramatic rise in the number of dams being built, to keep pace with demand for water or to provide power. Concerns have been raised about increased landslide activity near new dams, and now a study has demonstrated a conclusive link in at least one incident.

In March 2019 a landslide tore apart Hoseynabad-e Kalpush village in north-central Iran, damaging 300 houses and severing the road to the nearby dam. Local authorities blamed the landslide on heavy rainfall and insisted that the dam did not play a role.

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