WASHINGTON • The United States says it regrets that Iranians were not able to participate in a "free and fair electoral process" in the country's presidential election.

In the first reaction from Washington to ultraconservative cleric Ebrahim Raisi's election win, a State Department spokesman said last Saturday: "Iranians were denied their right to choose their own leaders in a free and fair electoral process."

Nonetheless, Washington will continue indirect talks with Iran on the US rejoining the 2015 nuclear accord that former president Donald Trump abandoned, the spokesman also said.

Many political heavyweights were barred from running in the Iranian election.

Mr Raisi is seen as close to 81-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate political power in Iran.

Many voters chose to stay away after the field of some 600 hopefuls, including 40 women, was winnowed down to seven candidates, all men, excluding an ex-president and a former Parliament Speaker.

Three of the vetted candidates dropped out two days before last Friday's vote.

On the Iran nuclear accord, the State Department spokesman said indirect talks in Vienna between the US and Iran had made "meaningful progress" and that Washington wanted to build on this.

"We will continue discussions along with our allies and partners on a mutual return to compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action," the spokesman said.

The discussions in Vienna, brokered by European diplomats, have been locked in dispute on which sanctions imposed on Iran would be lifted.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE