IRANIANS VOTE AS HARDLINERS SET TO PREVAIL
DUBAI/PARIS:Iranians voted on Friday in a parliamentary election likely to help hardline loyalists of the supreme leader tighten their grip on power as the country faces mounting US pressure over its nuclear programme and growing discontent at home.
Thousands of potential candidates were disqualified in favour of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s allies. The 290-member parliament’s power is limited, but gains by security hawks could weaken pragmatists and conservatives who back the ruling theocracy but support more engagement with the outside world.
More hardline seats in the assembly may also help them in the 2021 contest for president, a job with wide day-to-day control of government.
Four hours after polls opened, an interior ministry official said about 5 million Iranians out of 58 million eligible voters had cast their ballots, the ISNA news agency reported.
State television said voting would run for 10 hours, but could be extended for a couple of hours depending on turnout.
FATF REINSTATES SANCTIONS ON IRAN
A multinational financial watchdog reinstated sanctions against Iran on Friday, saying the Islamic republic has not taken sufficient measures against money laundering and the financing of terrorist groups.
In a statement issued after a meeting in Paris, the 38-nation Financial Action Task Force (FATF) announced it was lifting a sanctions suspension it granted in 2016 to give Iran time to work on reforms.