Iran’s UN mission warns Israel of ‘obliterating war’ if it attacks Lebanon

Iran's UN mission said on Friday that if Israel embarks on a "full-scale military aggression" in Lebanon, "an obliterating war will ensue."

The Iranian mission also said in the post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that in such an event "all options, incl. the full involvement of all resistance fronts, are on the table."

Early, seesawing results released Saturday in Iran’s presidential election put the race between reformist Masoud Pezeshkian and hard-liner Saeed Jalili, with the lead trading between the two men while a runoff vote appeared likely.

The early results, reported by Iranian state television, did not initially put either man in a position to win Friday's election outright, potentially setting the stage for a runoff election to replace the late hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi.

It also did not offer any turnout figures for the race yet - a crucial component of whether Iran's electorate backs its Shiite theocracy after years of economic turmoil and mass protests.

After counting over 12 million votes, Pezeshkian had over 5 million while Jalili held 4.8 million.

Another candidate, hard-line speaker of the parliament Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, had some 1.6 million votes. Shiite cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi had more than 95,000 votes.

Voters faced a choice between the three hard-line candidates and the little-known reformist Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon. As has been the case since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, women and those calling for radical change have been barred from running, while the vote itself will have no oversight from internationally recognized monitors.

Agencies