Dubai

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s interior ministry said Sunday that voter turnout in last week’s parliamentary elections stood at 42.57%, the lowest in decades, in a possible sign of widespread dissatisfaction with Iran’s clerical rulers and the state of the economy amid intense pressure from the United States.

In comparison, turnout was nearly 62% in the 2016 elections. Turnout has consistently been above 50% since the country’s Islamic Revolution some four decades ago.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran has started counting votes in its parliamentary election, state TV said on Saturday, in which hardline allies of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are likely to gain a seizable majority based on preliminary results.

Iranian authorities have yet to announce the turnout in Feb. 21 election for the 290-seat parliament — a litmus test of the popularity of hardliners.

Some early results announced by the Interior Ministry indicated that the hardline loyalists to Khamenei were gaining a majority in the 290-seat parliament.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Casting a vote in Iran’s parliamentary election is “a religious duty”, the country’s top authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reiterated on Friday after voting in Tehran, broadcast live on state TV.

“Voting is a religious duty ... which will also guarantee the national interests of Iran ... I am urging Iranians to vote early,” Khamenei said.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran’s election vetting body spokesman said he was honored to be blacklisted by the United States, which sanctioned five members of the Guardian Council for preventing free and fair elections in the Islamic Republic.

“It made us happy to be sanctioned by the enemy of our nation ... I am honored to be sanctioned by America,” Abasali Kadkhodai was quoted as saying by Iran’s state agency IRIB.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Confrontation with America, economic hardship and an airline tragedy have battered Iranians’ confidence in their leaders, posing a potential problem for the authorities in a parliamentary election this week.

As the Feb. 21 vote nears, Iranians are in a gloomy mood, exhausted by a succession of crises that have helped to shred the hopes for a better life they harbored only four years ago.

17 February 2020; AFP: The coronavirus epidemic could damage global economic growth this year, the IMF head said Sunday, but a sharp and rapid economic rebound could follow.

"There may be a cut that we are still hoping would be in the 0.1-0.2 percentage space," the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, told the Global Women's Forum in Dubai.

She said the full impact of the spreading disease that has already killed more than 1,600 people would depend on how quickly it was contained.

DUBAI (Reuters) - An Iranian man accused of violating U.S. sanctions and detained in Germany has been freed and has returned to Iran after diplomatic efforts by Tehran, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday.

The man, Ahmad Khalili flew home with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who had been in Germany to attend the Munich Security Conference, Iranian state TV quoted spokesman Abbas Mousavi as saying.

German authorities declined to comment on the case.

DUBAI (Reuters) - The sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States are a “criminal act” against the country, Iranian’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday, according to state TV.

“These sanctions are criminal act ... but we can turn it to an opportunity by distancing Iran’s economy from being dependent on oil exports,” said Khamenei.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran is not posing any threat to other countries, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday, according to State TV, adding that Tehran was determined to guarantee its own security.

“Iran poses no threat to any other country ... Our only aim is to make sure our security is guaranteed,” Khamenei told a group of commanders and staff of Iran’s Air Force.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran has a very strong Air Force despite limitations imposed on the country by the United States since the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told a gathering of Air Force commanders and staff on Saturday.

“Since the revolution their aim was to stop us from having a strong air force ... but look at us now. We even build planes. We have transformed their pressure to opportunity,” said Khamenei according to state news agency IRNA.