The Times, Financial Times and the online editions of the Guardian, Independent and Telegraph all report on political developments in Iran ahead of the country’s presidential election on Friday. All  paperscover the withdrawal of Mohammed Reza Aref from the race, leaving just one candidate viewed as being at odds with Tehran’s clerical regime, Hassan Rowhani. Former presidents, Mohammed Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani yesterday endorsed Rowhani’s candidacy, further boosting his campaign. All reports suggest that the concentration of support around Rowhani could see him in a second round vote against a hard-line candidate, a scenario which Iran’s leaders wish to avoid for fear that it will spark public displays of dissent.

Meanwhile, the Independent says that in an interview with Russia Today, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin described Iranian threats towards Israel as “unacceptable” but stressed his belief that Iran is “adhering to the rules” over its’ nuclear development. The Telegraph reports comments by Putin in the same interview in which he appeared to blame President Assad’s refusal to reform for the uprising that sparked the country’s civil war. The online editions of the Telegraph and Independent cover a double suicide bombing in Damascus yesterday, which killed at least fourteen people. The Times and the online editions of the Guardian and Financial Times report on British National Party leader Nick Griffin visited Syria at the behest of the Assad regime. Griffin appeared to praise Assad and voiced opposition to UK involvement in the Syrian civil war. The Times notes that Foreign Secretary William Hague will visit Washington today in order to discuss policy over Syria with US Secretary of State John Kerry.

The Telegraph online claims that Israel’s Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who is also leading Israel’s efforts in re-starting peace talks, has issued a veiled threat that she will consider leaving the government if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not more forcefully oppose representatives of his own Likud Party who express opposition to a two-state solution. The Financial Times says that a new Palestinian power plant in the West Bank may have lined up a major Israeli customer, a potential major boost to the project, which if completed would fall under the umbrella of a massive investment plan for the Palestinian areas of the West Bank announced recently by John Kerry. Meanwhile, the Independent and its’ sister publication Independent i report a denial by Pakistan that it had received military components from Israel, as reported yesterday in Haaretz.

The headlines in this morning’s Israeli newspapers are dominated by the public revelation of details surrounding the double murder in the Bar Noar gay youth club in Tel Aviv four years ago. Four suspects were arrested last week and the suspected murderer himself appeared to admit carrying out the shooting during the investigation, saying that he was motivated by revenge for an alleged sexual assault on a relative by an activist at Bar Noar. Israel Hayom’s front page headline “Murderous Revenge” is replicated in similar fashion in both Haaretz and Makor Rishon. Yediot Ahronot devotes a full thirteen pages to the case while Maariv focuses on the implications of a botched police press conference to talk about the case earlier this week.

Another major story, especially in Yediot Ahronot and Israel Hayom is the sale of the hugely popular Israeli navigation app Waze to Google, which was finalised yesterday at a reported value of around £700 million. Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Science and Technology Minister Yaakov Peri are reported to have called Waze CEO Noam Bardin to congratulate him on his company’s success.