Iranians voted on Friday in a presidential election likely to be won by a hardline judge subject to U.S. sanctions, though many are expected to ignore the ballot amid economic hardship and calls for a boycott by liberals at home and abroad. With uncertainty surrounding Iran’s efforts to revive its 2015 nuclear deal with six world powers, the turnout is being viewed by analysts as a referendum on the leadership’s handling of an array of crises. After casting his vote in the capital Tehran, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Iranians to cast ballots, saying “each vote counts … come and vote and choose your president”. The favourite to succeed Hassan Rouhani, a pragmatist prevented under the constitution from serving a third four-year term, is hardline Ebrahim Raisi. Raisi, who like his political patron Khamenei is an implacable critic of the West, is under […]