Hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi has taken a big lead in Iran’s presidential election and his rivals have conceded defeat, according to state TV.
Mr Raisi has taken an unassailable lead in the election, winning 17.8 million votes, an interior ministry official said.
His closest rival, Mohsen Rezaei, a senior conservative general, won just 3.3 million votes, while the sole reformist candidate, Abdolnaser Hemmati, a former central bank governor, took 2.4 million votes.
Mr Raisi’s victory means hardliners will have full control over all branches of government in Iran for the first time in almost a decade, after ultraconservatives took a majority in last year’s parliamentary elections.
Mr Raisi, a 60-year-old Shi’ite cleric who is subject to US sanctions for alleged human rights abuses, had been widely tipped to win the contest, in large part due to the support he had from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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Image: Iran’s outgoing president Hassan Rouhani will vacate the position in August
And on Saturday, Mr Raisi’s only moderate rival congratulated him.
“I hope your administration, under the leadership of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will make the Islamic Republic proud, improve livelihood and ensure the nation’s wellbeing and welfare,” Mr Hemmati was quoted as saying in a letter.
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In a televised speech, outgoing president Hassan Rouhani congratulated “the people’s elected (president)”, without naming him.
“Because it has not been officially announced yet, I will delay the official congratulations. But it is clear who received the votes,” Mr Rouhani said.
Iran’s president is the second highest ranking official in the country, after the supreme leader.
Mr Raisi is a harsh critic of the West and has presented himself as the best candidate to fight corruption and improve Iran’s economic problems.
Image: A supporter of Ebrahim Raisi holds a poster of him during a rally in Tehran
The election was held at a crucial time for the republic and the region – with US President Joe Biden’s administration seeking to ease tensions in the Middle East, which were inflamed by former president Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the nuclear accord and impose sanctions on Iran in 2018.
Mr Raisi remains committed to continuing negotiations with the deal’s remaining signatories – the UK, France, Germany, Russia and China.
But he previously said domestic policies would be his key priority, notably reviving an economy crippled by US sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Raisi is considered a potential candidate for replace Mr Khamenei, who served as president twice before being appointed in Iran’s most powerful position.
Mr Raisi lost in his previous run for president in 2017, but was this time boosted by the support from the supreme leader and a lack of choice of other candidates.
A hardline election body, the Guardian Council, barred moderate and conservative candidates from standing in the elections.
It is the first time in the country’s history that House representatives have voted the Speaker out.
Behind closed doors early on Tuesday, Mr McCarthy told fellow Republicans: “If I counted how many times someone wanted to knock me out, I would have been gone a long time ago.”
Several Republicans, however, had said they were sticking with Mr McCarthy as they emerged from the meeting, during which they said he received standing ovations.
It is a move that angered Mr Gaetz and other far-right Republicans, as Mr McCarthy relied on Democratic votes to pass a temporary funding extension on Saturday that avoided a partial government shutdown.
A band of about 20 Republicans had forced Mr McCarthy’s hand by repeatedly blocking other legislation.
Mr Gaetz and his allies said they were frustrated by the slow pace of spending legislation on Mr McCarthy’s watch.
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Republican Representative Tim Burchett, who said he would vote to oust Mr McCarthy, said: “We took a whole month of August off. I think that that’s pretty telling.”
To look at the House of Representatives is to see the turbulence of America’s political ecosystem.
The ousting of Kevin McCarthy leaves the lower chamber of Congress in a state of paralysis.
There will be an interim Speaker but his or her role will effectively amount to finding a permanent replacement.
It is a dysfunction at the heart of power, an extension of the fault lines that fracture the modern-day Republican Party.
Never before has a House Speaker been ejected in this way, another day of history in US politics
The history-makers at the wheel have travelled a distance from the party fringes to positions of influence.
Matt Gaetz is the high-profile House representative who tabled the motion to oust McCarthy.
He’s prominent amongst a hard-line conservative core of House Republicans, Trump-aligned, and bent on reshaping party traditions and reorientating its trajectory to the right.
It is a tail that can wag the dog and this episode is clear evidence of it.
The rules dictate that just one representative – Mr Gaetz in this case – can trigger a vote to oust the Speaker.
That arrangement was a deal Mr McCarthy struck in January to appease his party’s right wing and enable his accession to the position of Speaker.
It didn’t look like clever politics by Mr McCarthy at the time and it looks even less so today.
Today, politics are harder in a party whose politics have changed.
Not all are convinced by Mr Gaetz’s intentions, with some Republicans believing he is angling for a change at a higher office.
“It seems very personal with Matt. It doesn’t look like he’s looking out for the country or the institution,” Mr McCarthy said.
Mr Gaetz has denied he is spurred on by a dislike of Mr McCarthy.
At least 21 people have died in a coach crash near Venice in northern Italy, according to authorities.
Another 18 people were injured in the crash on Tuesday evening, with Italian police confirming there were tourists of “various nationalities” on board.
There were at least two children among the passengers, police added, while Venice’s mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, said they found Ukrainian passports at the scene.
“Several of the victims were foreigners, we found Ukrainian passports,” he said.
With rescue operations ongoing, the number of deaths could climb higher.
“The bus was rented for its guests by Camping Jolly in Marghera,” police said.
“On board, at the time of the accident, there were tourists of various nationalities. Also with them were at least two minors.”
Mr Brugnaro described the incident as a “terrible tragedy”.
“I immediately ordered the city to go into mourning, in memory of the many victims who were in the crashed bus,” he posted on social media.
“An apocalyptic scene, there are no words.”
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Several people have died in a coach crash near Venice in northern Italy
The coach fell close to railway lines after veering off a road in the district of Mestre, which is connected to Venice by a bridge, Italian television and news agencies reported.
According to Sky Italia, 18 bodies have so far been dragged from the wreckage after the coach fell 15 metres (49ft) onto electricity lines and caught fire.
The cause of the accident was still unclear, but one of Italy’s national police forces said officers are on the scene to investigate and to “give aid” to those hurt.
The railway is also “currently interrupted”.
Image: The bus veered off a road. Pic: @poliziadistato via X
Image: Police officers are on the scene. Pic: @poliziadistato via X
Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said her thoughts are with the victims.
“I express my deepest condolences, my personal and that of the entire government, for the serious accident that occurred in Mestre,” she posted on social media.
“My thoughts are with the victims and their families and friends. I am in close contact with the Mayor Luigi Brugnaro and with the Minister (of the interior) Matteo Piantedosi to follow the news on this tragedy.”
Italy has suffered a number of deadly bus crashes in recent years.
In 2013, 40 people died when a bus plunged off a viaduct in southern Italy in one of the country’s worst road accidents.
Four years later, 16 people on a bus carrying Hungarian students died in an accident near the northern city of Verona.
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Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin posted on X: “I am aware of the shooting event at Siam Paragon and have ordered the police to investigate. I am most worried about public safety,”
Authorities said later that the situation was under control.