The Iran Primer

            The Guardian Council has approved eight out of 686 candidates to run in Iran’s June 14 presidential election. The unelected body of 12 clerics and scholars rejected two individuals who might have been key contenders ― former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s chief of staff. The approved group includes four hardliners who are close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The following are profiles of the eight candidates.

Mohsen Rezaei
      Born in 1954, he is the current Secretary of the Expediency Council, the powerful body charged with resolving disputes between parliament and the Guardian Council. Rezaei is also a former chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. He unsuccessfully ran for parliament in 1999, and for the presidency in 2005 and 2009. He finished third in 2009 with 1.7 percent of the vote, far behind Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and reformist challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi. 

      Born in 1951, the he served as vice president under former President Mohammad Khatami from 2001 to 2005. Since 2002, he has been a member of the powerful Expediency Council, the body charged with resolving disputes between parliament and the Guardian Council. Aref studied electrical engineering and reportedly did graduate work at Stanford University in the late 1970s. He was a professor at Isfahan University of Technology from 1981 to 1994. Aref then served as president of Tehran University from 1994 until 1997, when he was appointed telecommunications minister. He is widely considered to be the most reform-minded of the candidates.

      Born in 1948, the conservative cleric headed the Supreme National Security Council for 16 years from 1989 to 2005. Rouhani has also acted as lead nuclear negotiator in earlier rounds of diplomacy with European powers. Hardliners charged that he was too accommodating in negotiations. He resigned after President Ahmadinejad took office in 2005. Rouhani is currently a senior member of the Expediency Council.

      Born in 1941, Gharazi was telecommunications minister from 1985 to 1997, partly under Rafsanjani’s administration. He reportedly studied electronics as a graduate at Tehran University and then served in the Revolutionary Guards during the 1980-1988 war with Iraq. Gharazi also served in parliament and was oil minister from 1981 to 1985.

      Born in 1965, Jalili has been secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and head nuclear negotiator since 2007. He served in the Basij paramilitary under the Revolutionary Guards during the war with Iraq. Jalili ran the supreme leader’s office from 2001 to 2005. In 2005, newly elected President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appointed Jalili, a personal friend, to be deputy foreign minister for European and American affairs.

      Born in 1961, he has been the mayor of Tehran since 2005. Son of a dried-fruit seller, Qalibaf served in the Revolutionary Guards and rose to high ranks during and after the war with Iraq. He became the commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ air force and was chief of the Law Enforcement Force from 2000 to 2005. Qalibaf received less than 14 percent of the vote in the 2005 presidential election against Ahmadinejad.

      Born in 1945, he is the supreme leader’s principal foreign policy adviser. Velayati served as foreign minister under Khamenei and Rafsanjani from 1981 to 1997. Velayati serves on the Expediency Council. In 2005, he ran for president but later withdrew and supported Rafsanjani instead. Velayati has indicated that he may drop out in support of Saeed Jalili.

      Born to a business family in 1945, he is a member of parliament from Tehran. Haddad-Adel served as parliament’s speaker from 2005 to 2008. Haddad-Adel is reportedly a close confidant of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. His daughter is married to the Khamenei’s son. Haddad-Adel is also a current member of the Expediency Council.

Hanif Zarrabi-Kashani
            The Middle East Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars offers the latest news on the 2013 Iranian presidential election, based on a selection of Iranian news sources. The Iran Election Update is a daily summary of up-to-date information with links to news in both English and Farsi.

• Alef News reports that although presidential candidate Saeed Jalili made a campaign visit to Qom and met with influential high-ranking clerics, he did not in fact meet with the senior cleric Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, whose endorsement would be a major campaign prize. Alef cites the reasons ranging from the Perseverance Front (Yadzi’s political group) denying Jalili’s request for a meeting to Ayatollah Yazdi not even being in Qom yesterday and Jalili not necessarily wanting to meet with Ayatollah Yazdi because Yazdi had not endorsed him when he announced his candidacy.

• Raja News reports and lists the 51 Persian news websites that are either backing or supportive of presidential candidate Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.

• Presidential candidate Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf will officially start his presidential campaign tomorrow in Khorramshahr. Photos posted by ILNA illustrate its symbolic nature as tomorrow marks the 11th anniversary of the liberation of the city as it was heavily ravaged by Iraqi forces during the Iran-Iraq War.

• In a speech in front of over 2,000 in the city of Bushehr, presidential candidate Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said, “I will form a social and public government… with the spirit of farmers, artists, workers, intellectuals, and different ethnic groups.”

• When asked about if any of the 2+1 Coalition candidates will withdraw, coalition member Ali Akbar Velayati said “all three coalition candidates will work alongside each other until the end and then a decision will be made.” He also promised, "(If elected) One of my administration’s emergency actions will be to contain inflation in 100 days.”

• Disqualified but hopeful presidential candidate Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei said, “If I am confirmed I will win the presidency by a unanimous vote.”

• Reformist presidential candidate Mohammed Aref said he hopes to be one of the final two or three candidates in the election. Aref also stated that former President Mohammed Khatami will soon declare his position on the remaining candidates. He continued, “I am not in the position to comment about Mr. Rafsanjani’s disqualification, but I am sorry that it happened.” Aref left open the possibility to join forces with candidate Hassan Rouhani by saying, “I am interested in a consensus (with him).” Aref predicted if there is a reformist victory in the elections, “we might change our tactics and methods but overall our foreign policy will not change.”

• Fars News posted photos of presidential candidates Mohammed Reza Aref, Ali Akbar Velayati, and former candidate Mohammad Hassan Abutorabi Fard as they participate in the Conference on Islamic Awakening, Future Horizons, and the Election.

• Tabnak News posted photos of presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei spending his first official day on the campaign trail in the southern Sistan-Baluchestan province meeting with citizens and tribal chiefs in the cities of Chabahar, Nikshahr, Iranshahr, Khash, and Zabol.

• English-language news PressTV reports that disqualified presidential candidate Hashemi Rafsanjani says “the country needs unity and calm in order to pass through the current difficult times.” PressTV also notes that presidential candidate Saeed Jalili said, “an Islamic model must be used in various fields such as economy and culture, adding that improving public welfare is the ultimate goal of Islam.”

• Sayed Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic Ayatollah Khomeini, wrote a letter to former president Rafsanjani and said he could not believe the news that Rafsanjani was disqualified.
   

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