EghtesadOnline: President Hassan Rouhani pledged on Saturday to open Iran to the world and deliver freedoms its people have yearned for, throwing down a defiant challenge to his hardline opponents after securing a decisive re-election for a second term.

EghtesadOnline: President Hassan Rouhani cast his hardline clerical opponents as power-hungry pawns of Iran's security forces on Friday, going far beyond the traditional bounds of Iranian political discourse in a blistering final TV debate a week before an election.

EghtesadOnline: Iranians quickly closed ranks against a hawkish new U.S. approach to Tehran, but Iran’s powerful hardliners are set to exploit the latest dispute with Washington to weaken domestic rivals who are open to the West, analysts and insiders say.

EghtesadOnline: The first picture shows a crowd of thousands packed into a central square in the city of Isfahan this week for a speech by hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi, the top challenger to President Hassan Rouhani in Friday's Iranian presidential election.

EghtesadOnline: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s re-election campaign received a lift as a fellow moderate withdrew from the race, and he was endorsed by the influential grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic.