Two of Iran’s political heavy-hitters, ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi and moderate conservative Ali Larijani, on Saturday joined the Presidential Race coming up next month.
Iranians are due to elect a successor to moderate President Hassan Rouhani, who is constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive term, on June 18.
First to join the race on Saturday was Larijani, a long-time parliament speaker and now advisor to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, submitting his name at the interior ministry early on the final day of registration.
The other contender, Judiciary chief and one-time presidential hopeful Raisi announced his candidacy in a statement, before appearing at the ministry to sign up.
Former judge Raisi was the leading rival to Rouhani in the 2017 election, and is seen as the main figure for the conservative camp this year.
Larijani on the other hand is a supporter of the 2015 nuclear deal, which offered Iran a relief from sanctions, in return to limitations on its nuclear activities.
The deal has been on life-support since former US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew Washington from it in 2018, and reimposed punishing sanctions on Tehran.
Sources close to the two had for weeks given media contradictory remarks, fuelling an intense debate on whether they would run.
This is Larijani’s second run for the presidency. He ran in 2005, which saw a surprise victory by the ultraconservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – who has also put his name in to run as well.
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