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The US military said the strikes were aimed at stopping the militia advance and protect fighters it has sponsored throughout the civil war. Photograph: Hassan Ammar/AP

US jets have attacked a convoy of Iranian-backed militiamen in south-eastern Syria in the first clash between the American military and forces loyal to Tehran since the US military returned to the region almost three years ago.

The airstrikes occurred near the Syrian town of al-Tanf, where Syrian opposition forces backed by the US have been under recent attack by Syrian and Russian jets near the main road linking Damascus to Baghdad. The militias, made up mainly of Iraqi Shia fighters, had been advancing towards the base throughout the week.

The US military said the strikes were aimed at stopping the militia advance and protect fighters it has sponsored throughout the civil war and in the fight against the Islamic State terror group.

The clash underscores the complexity of the fast-changing battlefields of Syria and Iraq, where a splintered opposition is struggling to hold ground, Isis faces military defeat, and forces allied to the Syrian leader, Bashar al-Assad, are in the ascendant.

Opposition units in the area continue to be backed by the CIA. They were raised to fight Isis, but have also been positioned as a bulwark against Iran-backed forces that have crossed from Iraq and been instrumental in recent gains made across Syria by the Assad regime.

A convoy going down the road didnt respond to numerous ways for it to be warned off from getting too close to coalition forces in al-Tanf, said a US defence official in Washington. Then there was finally a strike against a lead portion of that movement.

Defense secretary said that the attack did not mean that the US would be getting more involved Syrias civil war.

We are not increasing our role in the Syrian civil war, but we will defend our troops, Mattis said. We will defend ourselves (if) people take aggressive steps against us. And thats been a going-in policy of ours for a long time.

An opposition leader in al-Tanf said several thousand militiamen were trying to clear anti-Assad forces from the highway, in order to push west towards Mayedin and Deir Azzour, two crucial legs of a land route that Iran is trying to clear towards Damascus.

The Guardian reported earlier this week that senior Iraqi and Iranian officials had recently moved the course of the corridor about 140 miles south of its original route because of a strengthened US presence along its original course, through Syrias Kurdish north-east.

Earlier on Thursday, Irans Fars news agency, which is linked to the countrys powerful Revolutionary Guards Corps, claimed 3,000 members of Hezbollah had been moved to al-Tanf to combat a US plot.

Though they remain central to the US-led campaign to defeat Isis in eastern Syria and western Iraq, the forces sponsored by Washington are becoming central to US fears that Iran is finalising a corridor that would secure influence from Tehran to southern Lebanon.

US commanders are planning to move forces north from the Jordanian border and south from the Kurdish north towards Deir Azzour, one of the last bastions of Isis in Syria. The planned push, however, is being viewed by Iran as a threat.

It didnt start off about Iran, and it still isnt totally about them, said a senior European military official. But it is becoming that way.

On the eve of a visit to Riyadh, where he has vowed to reset relations with Saudi Arabia, Donald Trump has taken a hardline stance against Iran, and the Assad regime, which Tehran heavily backs.

Riyadh has been pushing for a reset of bilateral relations, which winds back a US pivot towards Iran under the Obama administration in favour of renewed ties between Washington and Riyadh that had been deeply strained during the former presidents second term.

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US jets attack Iran-backed militiamen in south-eastern Syria - The Guardian

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Forget Watergate. Think Iran-Contra. - New York Times

ANKARA Iranians vote for president on Friday in a contest likely to determine whether Tehran's re-engagement with the world stalls or quickens, although whatever the outcome no change is expected to its revolutionary system of conservative clerical rule.

Seeking a second term, pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani, 68, remains the narrow favorite, but hardline rivals have hammered him over his failure to boost an economy weakened by decades of sanctions.

Many Iranians feel a 2015 agreement he championed with major powers to lift sanctions in return for curbing Iran's nuclear program has failed to produce the jobs, growth and foreign investment he said would follow.

The normally mild-mannered cleric is trying to hold on to office by firing up reformist voters who want less confrontation abroad and more social and economic freedom at home.

In recent days he has adopted robust rhetoric, pushing at the boundaries of what is permitted in Iran. He has accused his conservative opponents of abusing human rights, misusing religious authority to gain power and representing the economic interests of the security forces.

Rouhani's strongest challenger is hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi, 56, who says Iran does not need foreign help and promises a revival of the values of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

He is backed by Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, the country's top security force, their affiliated volunteer Basij militia, hardline clerics and two influential clerical groups.

Another prominent conservative, Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, withdrew from the race on Monday and backed Raisi, uniting the hardline faction and giving Raisi's chances a boost.

Under Iran's system, the powers of the elected president are circumscribed by those of the conservative supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been in power since 1989. All candidates must be vetted by a hardline body.

Nevertheless, elections are fiercely contested and can bring about change within the system of rule overseen by Shi'ite Muslim clerics.

CLOSE ALLY

The main challenger Raisi is a close ally and protege of Khamenei, and was one of four Islamic judges who ordered the execution of thousands of political prisoners in 1988. Iranian media have discussed him as a potential future successor to Khamenei, who turns 78 in July.

Raisi has appealed to poorer voters by pledging to create millions of jobs.

"Though unrealistic, such promises will surely attract millions of poor voters," said Saeed Leylaz, a prominent Iranian economist who was jailed for criticizing the economic policies of Rouhani's hardline predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Although the supreme leader is officially above the fray of everyday politics, Khamenei can sway a presidential vote by giving a candidate his quiet endorsement, a move that could galvanize hardline efforts to get the conservative vote out.

"Raisi has a good chance to win. But still the result depends on the leader Khamenei's decision," said a former senior official, who declined to be identified.

So far in public Khamenei has called only for a high turnout, saying Iran's enemies have sought to use the elections to "infiltrate" its power structure, and a high turnout would prove the system's legitimacy.

A high turnout could also boost the chances of Rouhani, who was swept to power in 2013 on promises to reduce Iran's international isolation and grant more freedoms at home. The biggest threat to his re-election is apathy from disappointed voters who feel he did not deliver improvements they hoped for.

"The result depends on whether the economic problems will prevail over freedom issues," said an official close to Rouhani. "A low turnout can harm Rouhani."

Polls taken by International Perspectives for Public Opinion on May 10 show Rouhani still leads with about 55 percent of the votes, although such surveys do not have an established record of predicting election outcomes in Iran.

If no candidate wins more than 50 percent of votes cast, the top two candidates will compete in a runoff election on May 26.

Because the conservatives are now mostly united behind Raisi, the result is likely to be closer than four years ago, when Rouhani won more than three times as many votes as his closest challenger en route to a victory in a single round.

SLOW PACE OF CHANGE

Opposition and reformist figures are backing Rouhani. The Kalameh website reported that opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi, under house arrest since 2011, had requested a mobile ballot box be brought to his residence so that he could vote for Rouhani.

Rouhani's recent fiery campaign speeches have led to a surge of public interest. Yet many voters' expectations of radical change are low.

"I had decided not to vote ... Rouhani failed to keep his promises. As long as Khamenei runs policy, nothing will change," said art student Raika Mostashari in Tehran.

But she eventually decided to vote for Rouhani, she said, because former president Mohammad Khatami, spiritual leader of the pro-reform movement, had publicly backed him.

Rouhani's signature accomplishment has been his nuclear deal, which could be in jeopardy if he loses power, even though it was officially endorsed by Khamenei and all candidates say they will abide by it.

U.S. President Donald Trump has frequently called the agreement "one of the worst deals ever signed" and said Washington will review it.

Although the agreement lifted international sanctions, the United States continues to impose unilateral measures that have scared off investors. Washington cites Iran's missile program, its human rights record and support for terrorism.

Some experts say Iranian establishment figures may want to keep Rouhani in power to avoid being cast back into isolation.

"With the deal in jeopardy, the system will be in vital need of Rouhanis team of smiling diplomats and economic technocrats to shift the blame to the U.S. and keep Iran's economy afloat," said Iran analyst Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group.

Polls expected to open at 03:30 GMT and close at 13:30 GMT, which can be extended. Final results are expected by Sunday.

(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; editing by William Maclean and Peter Graff)

CAIRO An Indian man working on a Qatar World Cup stadium where rights groups say labor abuses have occurred, died of a heart attack this month in an incident the tournament's organizers said on Thursday was not due to his working conditions.

WASHINGTON/AMMAN The U.S. military carried out an air strike on Thursday against militia supported by the Syrian government that posed a threat to U.S. and U.S.-backed Syrian fighters in the country's south, U.S. officials told Reuters on Thursday.

DUBAI Iranians vote on Friday in a bitter presidential contest between pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani and hardline challenger Ebrahim Raisi that could determine the pace of economic and social reform and Iran's re-engagement with the world.

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Iran's re-engagement with the world at stake in Friday presidential vote - Reuters

An image of Irans current president, Hassan Rouhani, looms over cheering supporters at a re-election rally in Tehran. Photograph: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA

Iran goes to the polls on 19 May in the countrys first presidential elections since the landmark nuclear agreement in 2015, when Tehran agreed to roll back its nuclear programme in exchange for the removal of sanctions. The fate of that deal has been thrown in doubt since Donald Trump took the helm at the White House, but despite his increasingly belligerent rhetoric, the US president has so far not taken any serious steps to scrap the accord.

Irans interaction with the international community is at stake. The incumbent president, Hassan Rouhani, brought Iran in from the cold, even holding direct talks with the US under Trumps predecessor, something that was a taboo for more than three decades. The trajectory of Irans foreign policy changed dramatically under Rouhani, a moderate cleric, but that approach could shift under a new president.

Internally, a Rouhani defeat would deal a blow to the countrys reformists and bring hardliners back in power.

The election comes at a critical time in Iran: in recent years, particularly since 2014 when the countrys supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, underwent prostate surgery, speculation about his potential successor has grown.

Khamenei has the final say in all state matters in Iran, but in the event of his death the president can have a crucial role in the appointment of the next leader, even though it is not up to him to choose one. Khamenei was himself president in the 1980s when Ayatollah Khomeini, the then supreme leader and founder of the 1979 Islamic revolution, died. He was then promoted by the council of experts, the body in charge of choosing Irans supreme leaders, to succeed Khomeini.

Rouhanis main challenger, hardliner Ebrahim Raisi, is believed to have bigger ambitions than just the presidency. Over the past year, he has been touted as a frontrunner to succeed Khamenei. While it is true that Khameneis authority outstretches that of the president as long as he is alive, a new president could significantly change the political landscape at home.

Resolving the stalemate over the countrys nuclear programme was Rouhanis main campaign promise in the 2013 elections and on this metric he has succeeded.

But the elections are also seen as a referendum on how he has performed economically under the terms of the nuclear agreement. Rouhani has stabilised the Iranian economy and brought down inflation but unemployment is high and his opponents have questioned whether his administration has done enough to bring tangible economic benefits.

Raisi has portrayed himself as the candidate of the poor and is running a campaign focused on economic priorities, called work and dignity.

Almost any adult of Iranian origin and with Iranian nationality can take his or her identity card, a few passport-sized photos and the necessary documents to the interior ministry in Tehrans Fatemi Street to register as a candidate. But not everyone is allowed to actually take part. The guardian council, a powerful body of six clergymen and six jurists, vets each candidacy. Political competence and loyalty to the fundamental principles of the Islamic republic and its religion are among the main issues considered by the council.

This year, out of more than 1,600 who applied to run, only six candidates were accepted. More than 100 women also registered, but none made it past the vetting process. Apart from Rouhani, the five remaining candidates were Eshaq Jahangiri, who is Rouhanis first vice-president, the Tehran mayor, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, hardliner Raisi, and the relatively low-profile politicians Mostafa Agha Mirsalim and Mostafa Hashemi-Taba. Among those barred from running was the former hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Ghalibaf dropped out in favour of Raisi on Monday. Jahangiri is also expected to step aside in favour of Rouhani at some point this week.

The campaign period, which started in late April following the announcement of the list of approved candidates by the guardian council, will continue until Wednesday 17 May before the election on Friday 19 May.

If an overall majority is not achieved in the first round, the two candidates with the most votes will compete in a runoff. Elections are held and results announced under the supervision of an administrative council in the interior ministry. The voting age is 18, and an estimated 55 million Iranians are eligible to vote.

Hassan Rouhani, 68, the reformist-backed moderate incumbent, is a former chief Iranian nuclear negotiator who served as the secretary of Irans supreme national security council for 16 years. Under the former president Mohammad Khatamis presidency, Rouhani was responsible for negotiating with the west over Tehrans nuclear dossier. Under Rouhani, Iran halted its enrichment of uranium and showed more cooperation with the inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency. For many years, Rouhani was a close ally of Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the relative reformer who died in January.

Rouhani is most often described as a moderate rather than a reformist. But he is also a senior cleric with impeccable revolutionary credentials who has been an adviser to the supreme leader, Khamenei, and held highly sensitive posts in parliament and the establishment. Born in 1948 in Sorkheh, a small town in Semnan province, Rouhani was the eldest of five children in what he called a religious and revolutionary family who lived in a modest home surrounded by vines and pomegranates. His father owned a grocery. His mother, Sakineh, remembers him as a calm boy who excelled at school, read the Quran and enjoyed swimming and climbing.

He was educated in Qom, the Canterbury of the Shia Muslim world, and changed his family name which originally was Feridoun as a security measure to avoid the attention of the Savak secret police when preaching against theShah (Rouhani means cleric in Persian). Unusually for a cleric before the revolution, he studied law at Tehran University. In the 1990s, he was awarded a PhD by Glasgow Caledonian University for a thesis on the flexibility of sharia law with reference to the Iranian experience. Rouhani spent time in Paris with the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini and Rafsanjani and entered parliament after the revolution. During the war with Iraq in the 1980s, he commanded national air defence. In 1986, as deputy speaker in parliament, he took part in secret talks with US officials as part of what became known as the Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages affair.

In 1989, the year Khomeini died and Rafsanjani became president, he was appointed secretary of the supreme national security council. In 2003, with the region in turmoil after the US invasion of Iraq, he became Irans chief nuclear negotiator, agreeing voluntarily in talks with the EU3 (Britain, France and Germany) to suspend uranium enrichment temporarily.

Ebrahim Raisi, 56, is allied with Irans conservatives. He is custodian of Astan Quds Razavi, the wealthiest charity in the Muslim world and the organisation in charge of Irans holiest shrine, Imam Reza, in Mashhad in eastern Iran. Over the past year, Raisi has been touted as a frontrunner to become Khameneis successor, a higher position than that of the president. Some analysts suggest he is being groomed for a possible succession and a win in presidential elections would pave the way for him. A defeat would scupper his chances of succeeding Khamenei.

He wears a black turban, indicating he is a seyed a direct descendant of the prophet Muhammad, in Shia Islam. Raisi had barely reached adulthood by the 1979 Islamic revolution, but rose quickly through the ranks. In the summer of 1988, he was one of the four sharia judges behind the mass execution of leftists and dissidents.

More recently he was Irans prosecutor general and still holds an important division within the judiciary as the head of the court that prosecutes troublemaking clerics. He is married to the daughter of a hardline ayatollah who is the representative of Khamenei in the eastern province of Khorasan-Razavi, home to the Imam Reza shrine.

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Iran presidential elections: everything you need to know - The Guardian

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton. (AAP)

Six Iranian refugees who were caught travelling back to the country where they claimed their lives were in danger have reportedly been allowed to stay in Australia.

The group have been accused of lying on their visa applications after voluntarily returning to Iran on holiday despite having obtained protection visas based on fears for their lives, News Corp reports.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton is considering what he will do in response to the reports, 9NEWS understands.

All six refugees' protection visas were reportedlycancelled after it was discovered they were travelling between Iran and Australia.

They were set to be deported, but after successfully appealing to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal they were allowed to stay in Australia.

One man reportedly made three trips to Iran despite earlier claiming he could face execution if he returned.

A couple also reportedly travelled to and from Iran using their Iranian passports after claiming persecution.

Mr Dutton has the power to set aside decisions made by the tribunal, and is understood to beconsidering the reports on a case-by-case basis.

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