Iran’s Guardian Council approved eight presidential candidates on Tuesday.
While some of prominent Iranian politicians couldn’t get qualification, the list of qualified candidates include an unknown name: Mohammad Gharazi.
Born in 1941, Gharazi has a master of Electronics Engineering from Tehran University.
He was a member of Mojahedin-E Khalgh (MEK) before the 1979 revolution and was a comrade of Imam Khomeini during his exile in France.
Although the MEK was an Iranian revolutionary organization that participated in the 1979 Revolution that overthrew the Pahlavi Shah, but it entered an armed conflict with the Islamic government since June 28, 1981 when bombs were detonated at the headquarters of the Islamic Republic Party and Around 70 high-ranking officials were killed.
Mohmmad Gharazi apparently left the MEK before members of the organization left Iran for Iraq to fight against the regime along with Saddam Hoseing, then dictator of Iraq during 8 years of Iran-Iraq war.
Gharazi served as the minister of Oil in Mir Hossein Mousavi’s cabinet during 1981-85 and was the minister of Post, Telegraph and Telephone in Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s administration since 1985 to 1997.
Being a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and a Member of Parliament are other notable facts in Gharazi’s political record.
His approval for presidential candidacy was a big surprise as he was away from Iran’s political arena for years.
He announced his campaign motto as “Anti-Inflation Administration” when he registered for the presidential election.
