Tehran, Iran (AP) — Former chairman of the Iranian parliament registered on Saturday to run for the next president-elect of Islamic republic and potentially retired administration’s policy to reach Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers Became the first prominent candidate to support.
The decision by Ali Larijani, a long-standing conservative voice who later formed an alliance with Iran’s relatively moderate president Hassan Rouhani, took place on the final day of election registration on June 18. Larijani has maintained close ties with clergy for decades in the government, while a committee overseen by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei finally approves the candidates.
A Tehran journalist saw Larijani, 63, registered with the Home Office, which oversees elections. He waved to the onlookers after completing the process while Iran continued to fight the coronavirus pandemic. His face was covered with a blue surgical mask.
Former commander of Iran’s Paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps, Larijani was formerly Minister of Culture and Islamic Leadership and head of Iran’s National Broadcasting Station. Under hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he served as secretary to Iran’s powerful Supreme National Security Council for two years and as a senior nuclear negotiator. He then resigned in May 2020 and chaired the Iranian Parliament for about 12 years.
Larijani’s family includes prominent members of Iran’s theocracy, and his priestly brother was once the head of Iran’s judiciary. His father was a prominent Ayatollah.
Larijani played an active role in signing a 25-year strategic agreement with China earlier this year. On Friday, as a token of homage, Larijani reportedly sought permission to escape from the prelates of the religious city of Com.
Within Iran, candidates are in a broad political spectrum that includes hardliners who want to expand Iran’s nuclear program, moderates who want to maintain the status quo, and reformers who want to change theocracy from within.
Those seeking radical change find that the Guardian Council, which scrutinizes and approves candidates under Khamenei’s supervision, even prevents them from running.
Barbara Slavin, director of the Iranian Future Initiative of the Atlantic Council, said, “Larijani, like President Ruhani, does not undermine the administration’s basic beliefs of religious oversight of society and independence from foreign powers. He is a person whom Khamenei trusts to represent. ” ..
No clear candidate has yet emerged among the reformers.Some mention Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, but he said he wouldn’t run away later. Scandal for leaked recordings In it he made frank criticisms of the limits of power of security guards and civilian governments.
At the same time, Larijani was registered, and Mosen Hashemi Rafsanjani, the eldest son of the late President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani of Iran, was also registered. Rafsanjani, a member of the city council of Tehran, has been described as a reformist by political commentators.
Some other candidates have a prominent career in the Guard, a paramilitary organization that can only answer Khamenei. Hardliners are increasingly suggesting that the former military commander should be president, given the problems that have not occurred since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent expulsion of the military.
Former Iranian hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also registered on Wednesday.. After Khamenei criticized Ahmadinejad, his attempt to carry out in 2017 was finally thwarted, but this year the Supreme Leader has not warned him.
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Gambrel reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.