"Conflict with US has strengthened conservatives"

The election posters with the faces of the parliamentary candidates are up on the electrical cabinets and facades all over Tehran. But the faces could have been many more.

Ahead of today's election, over 7,000 candidates have been stopped from running for election to the country's powerful Guardian Council. A large number of those stopped are reform-oriented politicians who want to open up the country to the western world.

The atmosphere here in Tehran is in sharp contrast to the atmosphere during the last parliamentary elections four years ago. By then, the international nuclear energy agreement had just been signed, and many Iranians were hoping that new job opportunities would be created when foreign companies established themselves. The business delegations stood in line to visit Tehran. Today, the situation is different.

Iran's "hard line" - the conservatives and the ultra-conservatives - has been favored by the US passing the international nuclear agreement and imposing sanctions on the country. Today, the nuclear energy agreement hangs on a fragile thread and the country's economy is hard pressed. It has become increasingly difficult for the Iranians to make everyday life go together.

At the same time as Iran is becoming more and more isolated and the risk of a conflict with the United States is increasing, the question is how many will actually vote today.

Many young people we speak to here say that they will not vote in the election, which will take place at a troubled time. During the fall, large demonstrations shook the country. Only a few weeks have passed since Iranian top general Qassem Soleimani was killed in a US drone attack. Iran responded with missile attacks to US bases in Iraq. The same night, a Ukrainian passenger aircraft was shot down outside Tehran, killing 176 people.

After first denying all involvement, three days after the crash, Iran declared that it was the country's air defense that had shot down the plane.

So what does a parliamentary election mean in Iran? Parliament has limited influence in the country where much of the power lies under the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

But the election is a temperature gauge at a time when the country's economy is falling freely, setting the tone for next year's presidential election.

Low voter turnout will strengthen Iran's ultra-conservative parliamentarians.

Many who voted for reform-oriented President Rouhani have lost hope of negotiations with the United States and the Western world.

What was it we said? You can't trust the United States. Now it's proven, says a conservative voter we meet.