The Latest | An election is underway in Iran to replace a president killed in a helicopter crash

Iranians are voting on Friday to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a May helicopter crash in the country’s northwest along with the foreign minister and several other officials.

Analysts broadly describe the race as a three-way contest. There are two hard-liners, former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and the parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. Then there’s the reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian, who has aligned himself with those seeking a return to the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

And while 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has final say on all matters of state, presidents can bend Iran toward confrontation or negotiations with the West.

Currently:

— As Iran’s presidential vote looms, tensions boil over regarding a renewed headscarf crackdown.

— An analysis explores how no matter who wins Iran’s election, much may hinge for Tehran on the ‘Great Satan,’ the United States.

— A “Hamster” cryptocurrency craze gripping Iran highlights its economic malaise.

— A timeline explores the longtime tensions over Iran’s nuclear program.

— Iran’s imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who already called for a boycott of the vote, is been sentenced to another year in prison.

— Follow news agencies’s coverage of the Iranian presidential election at https://apnews.com/hub/iran.

Here is the latest:

Iran’s acting president Mohammad Mokhber has cast his vote and said that there are no security concerns in election.

“We have no security concerns for the elections,” Mokhber said in comments aired by state television. “The polling stations and its branches are properly placed in such a way that there is no point in the country or even outside the country where voting is not possible.”

Mokhber has served as acting president in the wake of the May helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi. He was Raisi’s first vice president, but did not apply to run in the election.

Iran’s supreme leader called on the public to vote in the snap election to replace hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave brief remarks Friday, speaking to journalists gathered in Tehran to cover him voting.