A Look at the Presidential Candidates in Iran
- 7 years ago
A Look at the Presidential Candidates in Iran
Ebrahim Raisi, 56 Widely believed to have the backing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mr. Raisi is known as a hard-line cleric who has spent most of his political career as a prosecutor
and judicial official, starting at age 20, two years after the revolution.
By RICK GLADSTONEMAY 12, 2017
The president of Iran is facing re-election competition from a career hard-line prosecutor, his own vice president, Tehran’s mayor, a former culture minister
and the one-time leader of the country’s sports organization.
Here are summaries of each candidate: Hassan Rouhani, 68 The incumbent, a moderate cleric with a long career in the political hierarchy, is best known for having negotiated the 2015 agreement with world powers, including the United States,
that ended Iran’s global isolation by relaxing economic sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear activities.
Mostafa Hashemi-Taba, 70 A former top official of Iran’s physical education organization
and National Olympic Committee, Mr. Hashemi-Taba is closely associated with Mohammad Khatami, the former reformist president who preceded Mr. Ahmadinejad.
Eshaq Jahangiri, 60 Mr. Rouhani’s vice president, Mr. Jahangiri is a reformist who joined the race in a politically strategic move to help Mr. Rouhani counter their conservative critics
and defend the nuclear accord, which many Iranians regard as an exemplary achievement even if it has yet to yield major economic benefits.
Mr. Qalibaf has assailed President Rouhani over a failure to create jobs and has predicted
that "an unemployment tsunami will wash away the government." Rights advocates have accused him of having bragged about crushing protests and beating demonstrators during his police career.
Ebrahim Raisi, 56 Widely believed to have the backing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Mr. Raisi is known as a hard-line cleric who has spent most of his political career as a prosecutor
and judicial official, starting at age 20, two years after the revolution.
By RICK GLADSTONEMAY 12, 2017
The president of Iran is facing re-election competition from a career hard-line prosecutor, his own vice president, Tehran’s mayor, a former culture minister
and the one-time leader of the country’s sports organization.
Here are summaries of each candidate: Hassan Rouhani, 68 The incumbent, a moderate cleric with a long career in the political hierarchy, is best known for having negotiated the 2015 agreement with world powers, including the United States,
that ended Iran’s global isolation by relaxing economic sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear activities.
Mostafa Hashemi-Taba, 70 A former top official of Iran’s physical education organization
and National Olympic Committee, Mr. Hashemi-Taba is closely associated with Mohammad Khatami, the former reformist president who preceded Mr. Ahmadinejad.
Eshaq Jahangiri, 60 Mr. Rouhani’s vice president, Mr. Jahangiri is a reformist who joined the race in a politically strategic move to help Mr. Rouhani counter their conservative critics
and defend the nuclear accord, which many Iranians regard as an exemplary achievement even if it has yet to yield major economic benefits.
Mr. Qalibaf has assailed President Rouhani over a failure to create jobs and has predicted
that "an unemployment tsunami will wash away the government." Rights advocates have accused him of having bragged about crushing protests and beating demonstrators during his police career.