The UK Guardian has great coverage of the elections today in Iran with continuous updates. Turnout is reported to be quite heavy and that it is believed to favor the candidacy of Mir Hosssein Mousavi. Reports indicate a turnout of over 80% and likely to break the record set in 1997. While the results won't be released until tomorrow, both sides are claiming victory. Al-Jazeera released the above interview with Mr. Mousavi in which the former Prime Minister hinted at direct talks with the United States should he be elected.

From the BBC:

The two main candidates in Iran's presidential election have claimed victory, after extended voting as huge numbers of people turned out to vote.

Reformist challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi told a news conference that he had won by a substantial margin.

However, state media said incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won, and electoral officials said partial results put him ahead on 69%.

But Mr Mousavi has complained of some voting irregularities.

He said there had been a shortage of ballot papers and millions of people had been denied the right to vote.

His election monitors were not allowed enough access to polling stations, he added, saying he would deal seriously with any fraud.

From the New York Times:

Polls were originally due to close at 6 p.m. (9:30 a.m. in New York), but voting was extended by several hours because of very high turnout, according to news service reports. Initial results are not expected until hours after the polls close.

The strong showing appeared to be driven in part by a broad movement against Mr. Ahmadinejad that has spurred vast opposition rallies in Iran's major cities over the past few weeks. Many reform-oriented voters stayed away from the polls in 2005, and now say they are determined not to repeat the mistake. Most say they support Mir Hussein Moussavi, a moderate and former prime minister who is the leading opposition candidate.

There are four candidates in the race, and if none wins more than 50 percent of the vote on Friday, the top two finishers will compete in a runoff a week later. Most analysts have assumed that the election will go to a second round, but in recent days, the extraordinary public support for Mr. Moussavi has led to predictions that he could win the presidency in the first round on Friday. The other contenders are Mehdi Karroubi, a reformist cleric; and Mohsen Rezai, a conservative and the former commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards. All other presidential aspirants were weeded out months ago by Iran's clerical elite.

Iran's president is less powerful than the supreme leader -- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- who has final authority over affairs of state. But the president wields great power over domestic affairs, and Mr. Ahmadinejad has skillfully used the office as a bully pulpit both at home and abroad.

More as we hear it.

Update [2009-6-12 18:4:54 by Charles Lemos]: According to Press TV, the Islamic Republic's English language service, nearly 32 million Iranians cast their votes.

According to Press TV's correspondent at the Election Commission Headquarters, Gissoo Ahmadi, based on unofficial statistics, out of 46 million eligible voters, nearly 32 million voted.

That would make the turnout just shy of 70%. Still extraordinary.

Update [2009-6-12 19:28:58 by Charles Lemos]: The New York Times has another update.

State media declared President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the winner of Iran's election but challenger Mirhossein Mousavi alleged irregularities and claimed victory for himself. The state election commission said early Saturday that Ahmadinejad, a hardline conservative, was ahead with 66 percent of the votes in Friday's election after 21 million ballots were counted. Ahmadinejad's main challenger, moderate former prime minister Mirhossein Mousavi, had 31 percent, according to the commission, which is part of the Interior Ministry. It said 61 percent of all ballot boxes had now been counted. The official news agency IRNA said: "Dr Ahmadinejad, by winning most votes at the 10th presidential election, has secured his victory." It said results would be announced at 8 a.m. (0330 GMT).

I still find a 66 to 31 split hard to believe.

Update [2009-6-12 19:51:17 by Charles Lemos]: Here's a short story from Radio Free Europe on the shutting down of the SMS network in Iran.

On a day when millions of Iranians went to the polls to vote for president, cell phone users found themselves without the ability to send and receive SMS text messages. Radio Farda, RFE/RL's Persian Service, confirmed that, at first, text messages from the two reformist presidential candidates were blocked from reaching supporters on Thursday evening. Eventually, Iran's entire SMS infrastructure went down. As of Friday night, service has not been restored. An official from Iran's state telecommunications company confirmed the SMS disruption and said, vaguely, that it may have been caused by "other entities" in the government. Also, Radio Farda has learned that at least five pro-reformist websites have been blocked. And the headquarters of a pro-reformist Internet TV program has been attacked by an unknown group and has stopped its broadcasts. Radio Farda's ongoing coverage includes more than 50 experts, reporters and ordinary people inside Iran as well as live reports from expats voting in Europe, Australia, Malaysia, and elsewhere. Radio Farda is also providing instant updates and analysis on its website, Facebook and Twitter

Note: Radio Farda is the Farsi language service established by the US government in 2002 to "support free-market economy and democracy" in Iran.

Update [2009-6-12 22:8:34 by Charles Lemos]: Here are numbers courtesy of the IRNA, the official news agency of the Islamic Republic of Iran:

According to the latest results of Iran’s Presidential Election, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has got 65.96 percent of the votes.

Head of the Elections Headquarters Kamran Daneshjoo told reporters Saturday morning that 31,369 ballot boxes had been counted until 3:40 am which were 68 percent of the total boxes. According to Daneshjoo, out of 24,122,777 counted votes, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has got 15,913,256 votes which constitutes 65.96 percent of the total counted votes. Mir Hossein Moussavi has got 7,526,117 votes which is 31.19 percent, Mohsen Rezaee has got 470,549 votes that is 1.95 percent and Mahdi Karroubi has got only 212,855 votes which is 0.88 percent.

I still find the margin to be surprising large given the polarization that had been reported in the international media in the run up to the election. I'll have some updates on what Iranian blogs are saying after dinner.