Iran seesawing vote results put race between reformist Masoud Pezeshkian and hard-liner Saeed Jalili

Iran's presidential election sees early results favoring reformist Masoud Pezeshkian and hard-liner Saeed Jalili, with a likely runoff vote.

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 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, Mr. Pezeshkian had 5.3 million while Mr. 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 recognised monitors.

The voting came as wider tensions have gripped the Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.