Iran votes in snap poll for new president after hard-liner's death, but turnout remains a question

BYDUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iranians voted Friday in a snap election to replace the late hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, with the race's sole reformist candidate vowing to seek"friendly relations" with the West in an effort to boost his campaign.The remarks by heart surgeon Masoud Pezeshkian come after he and his allies were targeted by a veiled warning from the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, over their outreach to the United States.

The voting comes as wider tensions have gripped the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. In April, Iran launched its first-ever direct attack on Israel over the war in Gaza, while militia groups that Tehran arms in the region — such as the Lebanese Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthi rebels — are engaged in the fighting and have escalated their attacks.

Pezeshkian, who voted at a hospital near the capital, Tehran, appeared to have that in mind as he responded to a journalist's question about how Iran would interact with the West if he was president. Pezeshkian has aligned himself with figures such as former President Hassan Rouhani under whose administration Tehran struck the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, who is in charge of overseeing the election, announced all the polls had opened just at 8 a.m. local time. Khamenei cast one of the election's first votes, urging the public to turn out.

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