Mohammad Khatami

Iranians go to the polls Friday to elect a new president after ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash last month, with a sole reformist among the candidates.

The election in sanctions-hit Iran comes at a time of high regional tensions between the Islamic republic and its arch-foes Israel and the United States as the Gaza war rages on.

Iran has good relations with Turkey, Iranian Defense Minister Amir Khatami said on Aug. 19.

Iranians yearning for more freedom at home and less isolation abroad have emphatically re-elected President Hassan Rohani, throwing down a challenge to the conservative clergy that still holds ultimate sway.

It was a rare night of open-air partying in Iran on May 20 as tens of thousands of supporters of President Hassan Rouhani took to the streets to celebrate his re-election.

For many, it was a chance to breathe easily again after a tense campaign between Rouhani and his hardline opponent Ebrahim Raisi.

Iran's reformist former president Mohammad Khatami has skirted a media ban to endorse moderate incumbent Hassan Rouhani for a second term over conservative challengers in a May 19 election.

Pope Francis on Jan. 26 urged Iran to back peace efforts in the Middle East as the Islamic Republic's emergence from international isolation took a significant step forward with President Hassan Rouhani's first visit to the Vatican.

?I?ll ask you something completely besides politics: Do you think Ayatollah Khomeini was a good person in his heart?? I ask Hamed, a harsh anti-regime academician.

With a sad voice, he replied: ?I don?t know. There is this love letter he wrote to his wife. Your and I could never write with such depth??

Iranians are a different kind.

The great Persian civilization? 

Iran is to appoint a woman ambassador for the first time since its 1979 Islamic Revolution, according to unconfirmed media reports April 15.
      
The reports said foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham would be named ambassador to an Asian country.
      

Corruption thrives in the absence of free media, according to Masoumeh Ebtekar, the first female vice president of Iran, who has called on the Iranian and Turkish governments to work together against corruption.