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Two months after Majles-e Khobregan-e Rahbari (Assembly of Experts) elections, 93 year-old Mohammad Movahedi Kermani has been named to lead the sometimes influential body.

More than 80 men and women registered to stand in the Iranian presidential election being held later this month, but the number actually allowed to compete is likely to be in the single figures once the Guardian Council vets all the prospective candidates. Unlike the last election in 2021, there appears to be a chance that some moderate figures will be allowed to run on 28 June.

King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa says there is “no reason to delay” the restoration of diplomatic relations with Tehran, some eight years after they were severed, while Iran’s acting president has invited Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to visit, in a further sign of Tehran’s efforts to improve relations with its Arab neighbours.

Qatar’s Emir Tamim was among the few foreign heads of state to attend the late Iranian president’s funeral in Tehran, while other GCC states sent their foreign ministers. In a febrile mood, three former Iranian presidents didn’t attend the service, for reasons unknown.

President Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials were killed when the helicopter they were travelling in crashed in poor weather in East Azerbaijan province on 19 May. New presidential elections are due to take place within 50 days, amid other major questions for Iran’s political-religious elite.

Former foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi is one of several senior figures to warn that Tehran would have to change its self-declared ban on nuclear weapons if Iran felt its nuclear facilities were being threatened by Israel.

No official statistics have been released, but media reports in Iran pointed to voter turnout of just 8% in the capital Tehran in run-off election held in May for the final 45 seats in the Majlis-e Shura.

Iranian officials have been engaged in a flurry of meetings and phone calls with GCC member states, in a sign that Tehran may be trying to leverage regional anger over the Gaza conflict to improve relations with its Arab neighbours.

Buenos Aires is seeking to arrest Ahmad Vahidi over the bombing of a Jewish community centre in which 85 people were killed, after Argentina’s highest court found Iran to blame for the events 30 years ago.

Allies and enemies are anxiously waiting to see if the Israeli government will escalate regional conflict further after more than 300 projectiles were fired from Iran at Israel on 13-14 April in Tehran’s retaliation to the Israeli strike that killed IRGC commanders in Damascus. Most of the drones and missiles were shot down, but a few hit Israeli military bases, causing limited damage.

Qassem Khamoushi has taken over as head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army Aviation, replacing Yousef Ghorbani, who had been in the post since 2017

Seven members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp were killed when missiles levelled the consular office next to Iran’s embassy in the Syrian capital. While other IRGC officers have been killed by Israeli strikes in Syria in recent months, this attack appears the most serious yet.

Official figures showed turnout of just 41% at parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections on 1 March, the lowest of any election since the 1979 revolution. While the authorities called for a festival of democratic expression, those abstaining including former president Mohammad Khatami.

They may not be popular, but clerics dominate contemporary Iran, its politics and economy to an extent that most Iranians might have thought inconceivable in the years immediately after the 1979 revolution. The latest series of GSN profiles focuses on senior clerics who occupy key positions across Iran’s political system – all of them closely tied to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and committed to the Islamic republic’s long-term survival.

Iranians have been asked to come out in force to vote in elections to the Majlis-e Shura-ye Eslami (parliament) and Majlis-e Khobregân-e Rahbari (Assembly of Experts) on 1 March.