Sixty thousand polling stations have opened in Iran, with the nation set to choose its new president. The election comes as the country is torn by the severe financial crisis and pressured by the international community over its nuclear program.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has already cast his vote, saying, “I recently heard that someone at the US National Security Council said 'we do not accept this election in Iran.’” 

“We don’t give a damn [what they think],” he stressed. 

At the end of May, US Secretary of State John Kerry questioned the credibility of the Iranian presidential election, criticizing the disqualification of a few candidates and accusing Tehran of disrupting internet access.

RT’s Maria Finoshina is now at the heart of the events, tweeting about what’s happening on the ground.

Khamenei kept his favorite for the new president a secret. 

"Among those running ... I had someone in mind whom I chose. I haven't told anyone [of my vote]. Even those close to me like my family and children don't know who I voted for," he said. 

A handout picture released by the official website of the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei shows him casting his vote in Tehran on June 14, 2013. (AFP Photo)

RT has also managed to obtain a brochure which indicates the qualities of an ideal leader: he should ‘believe in God’, be able to ‘stand against enemies’, and prepare a plan to save the country’s economy.

There are six candidates to choose from for Iran’s first new president in eight years.

Saeed Jalili, 47, from the Front of Islamic Revolution Stability, is considered the favorite in the election. The candidate holds middle ground between conservative and reformist vies, and has been Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator since 2007.

Ali Akbar Velayati, 67, represents the conservative Islamic Coalition Party and is said to be Jalili’s main rival in the race. He used to be minister of foreign affairs and is currently the foreign affairs advisor to Khamenei.

Polls opened at 03:30 GMT, according to state media. Voting will last for 10 hours, though the Interior minister indicated that the hours are to be extended. There are more than 50 million Iranians eligible to vote, 1.6 million of them first-time voters.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (AFP Photo)

Iran is saying farewell to the era of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad being in power.

On the one hand, the president attempted to unite the country, confronting tough sanctions from the international community, aimed at crippling the country’s nuclear program.

“The objective is to make Ahmadinejad a villain. He stands for universal rights where every country would have an equal say, but some powers want nothing but dominance - and they focused on blackening the name of our president,” one of the outgoing president’s advisors, Bahid Sharif Sadeh, indicated to RT.

On the other hand, Ahmadinejad leaves the country’s stewardship amid an economic crisis.

Akbar, a real estate businessman, measures the severity of it in terms of pizza, as he pointed out to RT.

“If you compare the price [of pizza] - it increased by 100 percent since last year. We have no hope for the future - the economy is bad and it’s getting worse,” he says.

Rejected presidential candidate Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri Abyaneh pointed out to RT that whoever is elected as the new leader, he will still have to rely upon the supreme leader in all his decisions, being“supervised and blessed by the Ayatollah.”

• A Permanent Economic Emergency