Iranian-Americans and expatriates in the Washington area streamed to polling stations today to have a say in their homeland's presidential election.
They cast ballots at the Pakistani embassy's Iranian Interests Section in the well-heeled Glover Park neighbourhood of the US capital and at a mosque in suburban Manassas, Virginia.
An Iranian diplomat barred an AFP reporter from entering the Iranian Interests Section where two uniformed agents of the US Secret Service -- responsible for guarding embassy premises -- kept a discreet presence outside.
But from indoors, a few voters posted Twitter images of the polling booth hidden behind a draped Iranian flag, as well as a wet-towel dispenser for wiping off the blue finger paint used to mark ballots.
Exiting the premises with Iranian ID papers in hand, most if not all voters told AFP they supported Hassan Rowhani, a moderate cleric Iranian reformists hope will profit from a divided conservative camp.
"He's pro young-generation," said Najmeh Molaei, a sleep therapist from Maryland who has lived in the United States for 20 years. "I hope whoever comes into power will do something for the people."
A young Iranian voter, who came to the United States two months ago after eight years in Italy, said Rowhani was the only candidate backed by former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, disqualified from running this time.
Declining to give her name, she thought the overseas Iranian vote mattered because "people can say we still care about the country and that we're going to vote whatever."
Record numbers of Iranian voters in the United States turned out for the 2009 election.
