Leading conservatives Raisi and Larijani enter Iran presidential race

Iran's judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi and former parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani have registered to run in next month's presidential election.

The two conservatives, who have close ties with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are seen as the leading contenders to succeed Hassan Rouhani.

Mr Rouhani, a moderate, is not allowed to run for a third consecutive term.

More than 300 other hopefuls have also applied to be candidates. They must all now be vetted by the Guardian Council.

The 12 theologians and jurists on the council approved only six of the more than 1,600 candidates for the last election in 2017, which Mr Rouhani won in the first round with 57% of the vote. Mr Raisi came second with 38%.

Since then there has been rising discontent in Iran over the state of the country's economy, which has been crippled by US sanctions reinstated in 2018 by then-President Donald Trump.

He abandoned a nuclear deal negotiated by Mr Rouhani that saw Iran limit its nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief. Iran stopped abiding by key commitments in response to the move.