Iran presidential election
Iran has announced partial results from the June 18 presidential election after about 90 percent of the vote count. Judiciary chief Ebrahim Raeisi is leading with more than 17-million-and-eight-hundred-thousand votes. He has promised to fight corruption and uproot poverty. Mohsen Rezaei is ranked second with over three-million-and-three-hundred-thousand votes. His campaign slogan was an overhaul in the country’s governance and economy. Abdolnaser Hemmati managed to garner two-point-four million votes and is in the third place. And last, Iranian lawmaker Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi has garnered nearly one million votes. Over 59-point-3 million Iranians were eligible to vote for one of the four presidential candidates.
Yemen retaliatory attack
The Yemeni army says it has carried out an airstrike on an airbase inside Saudi Arabia. Army spokesman Yahya Saree says a Qassef 2-K drone targeted the King Khalid base near the southwestern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait. Saree says the operation was successful with the target being hit precisely. According to Saree, the attack was in response to Saudi Arabia’s military aggression and continued siege of Yemen. A Saudi-led military coalition launched a war on Yemen in 2015 with the aim of reinstating a friendly regime there. Yemeni forces have stepped up their retaliatory attacks against the kingdom in recent months. They have been pushing for the lifting of the blockade on Yemen and an end to the war that has killed tens of thousands of people.
US military pullout
The US defense department says Washington has started to cut the number of its anti-missile systems in the West Asia region. The pentagon says it is pulling one THAAD and eight Patriot missile systems along with hundreds of troops supporting them from the region. The US is also reducing jet fighter squadrons assigned to West Asia as part of the withdrawal process that started on June second. The military hardware is being pulled mainly from Saudi Arabia, but also from Kuwait and Iraq. The administration of President Joe Biden has pledged to reduce the US military presence in the region, to focus on what it calls threats from China and Russia. However, Washington is expected to maintain a substantial military presence, including thousands of troops, in the region especially in Iraq and Syria.