Two-term former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not be allowed to pursue a comeback bid in next month’s Iranian presidential elections, the religious body which vets all candidates announced Tuesday.
The fiery Mr. Ahmadinejad, whose antisemitic rhetoric and hostility to Israel and the U.S. sent regional tensions soaring during his two terms that ended in 2013, was not among just seven candidates approved by the Iran’s Guardians Council in the June 18 race to succeed relative moderate President Hassan Rouhani, who stepping down after two terms in power.
Also excluded from the final candidate list were Ali Larijani, the longtime speaker of the Iranian parliament, and First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, considered outgoing President Rouhani’s closest ally among the likely candidates
In all, 33 of the final 40 candidates for president were rejected by the Guardians Council, a panel of hard-line senior clerics, a high number that even some conservatives said was too restrictive and could turn off disaffected voters even more.
The final winnowing came as negotiators from Iran, the U.S. and other major powers were meeting for a fifth negotiating session in Switzerland on the fate of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which was endorsed by President Obama but repudiated by President Trump three years later. Analysts said Iran’s leaders may be pressing for a deal before the vote, when hardliners skeptical of dealing with Washington expected to do well.
The fate of the nuclear deal and Iran’s mounting domestic economic woes are likely to be major issues in the coming campaign. A successful reviving of the nuclear deal would mean billions of dollars to the Iranian economy from the release of frozen funds abroad and the lifting of a broad range of economic and financial sanctions re-imposed by Mr. Trump when he took the U.S. out of the deal.
While the U.S. and Iran are not negotiating directly in the Geneva talks, delegates from both Russia and Iran have sounded increasingly optimistic that a deal is in the works and that Washington could soon rejoin the pact.
Russian delegate Mikhail Ulyanov called this week’s sessions “the fifth and probably final round of the Vienna talks,” the Associated Press reported.
“The participants expressed readiness to do their best to resolve the remaining outstanding issues and to complete negotiations successfully as soon as possible,” he tweeted.
Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Iranian state television, “We hope that we will be able to reach a final solution during these several days of negotiations.”
But chief American negotiator Robert Malley was more circumspect, saying the previous rounds of talks have been productive but that “much work still needs to be done.”
After disruptive popular protests over living conditions broke out last year, Iran’s ruling theocrats have been anxious to increase turnout in the June election as a sign of legitimacy for the regime. But the limited field may give the 60 million Iranian voters little incentive to go to the polls next month.
The field of 40 hopefuls was already narrowed down from the nearly 600 candidates, including 40 women, who applied to run but were prevented by religious authorities.
The early front-runner in the race appears to be another hardliner, Iranian Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi, who is a close ally of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, the country’s ultimate political authority, and has been tipped one day to succeed the ayatollah.
Also making the cut in the small field were Saeed Jalili, a chief negotiator of the Iran nuclear deal; former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezaei, a frequent presidential candidate; and Abdolnaser Hemmati, considered a moderate with an international profile as head of Iran’s central bank.
Mr. Raisi, a Muslim cleric and longtime jurist, was defeated by Mr. Rouhani in the 2017 presidential race run-off. Regime critics had long criticized him for his role in the 1988 campaign targeting political prisoners held by the regime for execution.
He appeared to hint at his own discomfort with the restricted field, writing on Twitter Tuesday, “I have made contacts and I am holding consultations to make the election scene more competitive and participatory.”
If no one emerges with a clear majority in the June 18 vote, a run-off between the two top finishers will be held a week later.
• David R. Sands can be reached at dsands@washingtontimes.com.
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