Referring to the high turnout in Iran’s presidential election he said: “I’ve done my best to empower the Islamic Republic and now I need your help.”

Rowhani also met with Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and reformist figures Mohammad Khatami and Mohammad Reza Aref on Saturday.

Khatami Thanked The Supreme Leader Aytollah Khamenei

Former President and a leader of Reformist movement in Iran Khtami said in his meeting with Rowhani that “We should thank the Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Khamenei] for his effort to create the grounds of the political epic.”

Rowhani Will Go to Majlis

Rowhani will go to Iran’ Majlis on Wednesday to Meet MPs and consult them about his cabinet.

Iran’s President-Elect To Visit Iraq and Senior Shia Clerics

The Iraqi Al-Dostour newspaper reported that Iran’s President-elect will travel to Iraq in early July to meet Shia senior clerics in Najaf.

According to the report, Rowhani will visit holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. Possibility of his meeting with Iraqi officials is unknown.

The post Iran Updates: Khatami Thanked The Supreme Leader, Rowhani Vowed To Empower The Islamic Republic first appeared on .

Hashemi insisted that the excitement and the hope that have been created in the hearts of the country’s youth after the election make an invaluable asset for the next administration.
“The policy of moderation and wisdom and the use of collective wisdom, which is the slogan of Dr Rowhani’s administration, can safeguard and strengthen the country’s national solidarity and comprehensive unity, and it can also help solve numerous domestic problems, especially economic ones, and create constructive interaction with the countries in the world over international issues,” Hashemi emphasized.

Rowhani also thanked his major supporter for his good and useful consultations.
In another important meeting, Mohammad Reza Aref told Rowhani that he was ready to cooperate with the new administration.
Aref withdraw from the presidential election in favor of Rowhani and under pressure from Mohammad Khatami and Hashemi.
The president elect is going to introduce his minister in less than a month but he has not announced any name officially yet.

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Many of the country’s top officials have already cast their votes with the Leader of the Islamic Republic being the first. He urged the nation to go to the polls early. In response to remarks by a American National Security Council official, the leader stated that the Iranian nation would not be influenced by such remarks and that they would act according to their own beliefs and needs.

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Mohammad Reza Aref, as an “original reformist”, was expected to stay in the presidential race to the end. However, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s opinion and Rowhani having more votes than him led to a different fate for Aref, making him withdraw from the race despite his pledge.

Aref said his withdrwal from election was upon a request by Mohammad Khatami, the former reformist president under whom Aref was vice president. On Tuesday Khatami officially supported Rowhani in a statement.

But introducing Rowhani as the ultimate candidate for the reformist front in Iran, has surprised a lot of reformist observers. Since the revolution, Rowhani’s activities have never been appealing to the reformists, especially his activities during Khatami’s presidency.

He entered Iran’s parliament in 1981, and remained an MP for 5 rounds, being the deputy speaker in the fourth and fifth parliaments which were among the most fundamentalist parliaments in the Islamic Republic and in which the reformist were under much pressure.

He has been the Supreme Leader’s representative in the Iran’s Supreme National Security Council since its establishment.

Before being recognized as the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Rowhani was and still is a member of the fundamentalist ” Combatant Clergy Association”,  ( Jame’e-ye Rowhaniyat-e Mobarez) the main rival of the reformist Assembly of Combatant Clerics (majma’-e rowhāniyūn-e mobārez), the spiritual father of the reformist movement.

Rowhani and The July 1999 Unrest

During the 1999 unrest when the reformist students came to the streets and their protest turned to violence, Rowhani condemned the protests harshly in a speech on July 14, calling the reformist protesters “villains”.

“If the officials had not prohibited, our people and our Muslim, brave, and revolutionary youth would deal with these villains in the severest way and punish them for what they did.”

As the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Rowhani also signed the order for house arrest of Ayatollah Montazeri, the spiritual leader of the reformists.

Rowhani’s Controversial Education

Rowhani, 55, who is a member of both the Expediency Discernment Council of the System and the Assembly of Experts said in his campaign that he got his Ph D. in Constitutional Law, at Glasgow Caledonian University, UK.

A British source, The Telegraph, however has questioned the claim.”A Glasgow Caledonian spokesman said the university was checking Mr Rowhani’s credentials but was unable to confirm them,” the Telegraph stated.

Rowhani’s campaign has not reacted to this claim yet.

Mr. Rowhani also studied in Qom’s religious Shia school and says he’s got the degree of diligence or “Ijtihad”. Ijtihad is considered as one of the highest religious levels among shias.

Why did Rowhani become the reformist’s ultimate candidate?

The most important question now is this: what happened that a non-reformist candidate is introduced as the reformist’s ultimate candidate? The most significant analysis points to a political bargain between Hashemi and Khatami to whose opinions Aref and Rowhani are faithful.

After the latest polls showed low votes for Rowhani and Aref compared to the fundamentalist candidates, Hashemi and Khatami agreed that one of the two candidates should quit in favor of the other. This compromise made Aref withdraw and Rowhani the reformist candidate.

Hashemi who was sure he would be disqualified by the Guardian Council entered the presidential race upon requests by Khatami and other reformists and bore all of the pressures as if the 80 years old politician only wanted to show his good will to Khatami. He did not even oppose to his disqualification and didn’t push for his re-qualification.

It however was a clever move by Hashemi as he expected Khatami to compensate for his sacrifice. Khatami responded to Hashemi’s political sacrifice by agreeing to introduce Rowhani as the ultimate candidate and make Aref withdraw.

Based on this, perhaps it can be said that Hassan Rowhani is Hashemi’s full-scale representative in the presidential election and this has resulted in some disputes among a group of reformists. They believe an original reformist like Aref should not have been sacrificed for Rowhani who is considered mostly as a fundamentalist.  

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Mohammad Reza Aref a reformist candidate in Iran’s upcoming presidential election announced his quit from the race in favor of the presidential candidate Hasan Rowhani who is strongly backed by Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

“I quit from the election race because Mr. Khatami advised me to do so,” a statement of Aref published in his website read.

“Mr. Aref will abide by any decision taken by Mohammad Katami,” said Hasan Rasouli, Aref’s spokesman in an interview with Iran’s View on Monday.

“The Advisory Council of the Reformists headed by Mohammad Khatami was in charge of choosing a single candidate for the party,” he said.

Meanwhile Mohammad Reza Aref has repeatedly said he “will stand in the election race till the end.” He has even sworn this morning to not quit the race.

A few days ago his spokesperson told Iran’s View that Reformists chose Aref as the candidate for the party.

But it seems Hasan Rowhani and his supporters were successful to make Aref quit the race.

Hasan Rowhani a former secretary of Iran’s National Security Council and currently an envoy to the supreme leader Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei on the council is backed by Hashemi Rafsanjani the former two-term president of the country.

Aref is backed by the former president Mohammad Khatami who is a leader of the Iranian reformists.

In recent weeks the Reformists front witnessed hot debates between Khatami and Rafsanjani on choosing a single candidate for the Reformists in the presidential election.

Aref didn’t even recognize Rowhani as a reformist. Rowhani once during Khatami’s presidency signed a letter that conservatives wrote against him. In other hand, Khatami and his inner circle believe Rowhani would prefer Hashemi’s interests to the reformists’ approaches.

Anyway the Reformists’ success to have a single candidate is the worst news for the Principalists who have three candidates for the presidential election.

The Principalists failed to form a coalition and choose a single candidate so far. Although Gholam Ali Hadad Adel quit the race on Monday in favor of “all principalists” but given his low performance in the different polls it will not help the Principalists to compete against a strong reformist rival.

The three Principalist candidates who are unlikely to quit in favor of each other are: Saeed Jalili Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, Tehran’s mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and former foriegn minister Ali Akbar Velayati

According to the polls and latest analysis after the withdrawal of Aref, Hasan Rowhani will have more than 20% of the ballot and will be competing with the Principalists’ front-runner Ghalibaf who has about 25% of the ballot.

Political observers in Tehran believe if the Principalists fail to form a coalition, Hasan Rowhani will attract a significant percent of the votes and will compete against Ghalibaf in the run-off round.

Iranians will cast their votes in the presidential election on Friday June 14th. A run-off round is expected as none of six remaining candidates are likely to gain 50% of ballots in polls.

The post Unified Iranian Reformists Behind Rowhani The Worst News For Principalists first appeared on .

Only one week to the Iran’s first presidential election since the 2009 election which president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won causing street unrest, currently all private polls by Iran’s intelligence ministry, Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting organization and some other governmental organizations show Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Ali Akbar Velayati and Saeed Jalili all Principalists respectively will have the most votes. So Hasan Rowhani and Mohammad Reza Aref two reformist candidates, cannot even enter the run off round if the reformists don’t agree on a single candidate to stay in the race.

Unofficial but reliable polls either by governmental institutes or private institutes show each of the two reformist candidates can gain almost 8% of ballots, while Ghalibaf would win about 30% of ballots and Velayati and Jalili each have about 11% of votes.

Mohammad Reza Aref Vice President under Mohammad Khatami’s administration said several times during the last two weeks that he will “stay till the end” and he does not recognize Rowhani who is an envoy of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei in Iran’s National Security Council as a reformist.

But Rowhani’s campaign manager Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said on Thursday that both Aref and Rowhani welcome a coalition and they are working on that.

On the same day Sayed Hadi Khamenei a prominent reformist figure and a key member of the reformist Association of Combatant Clerics said Mohammad Reza Aref is the representative of all reformists.

“Hassan Rowhani is not a reformist. The Council for Coordinating the Reformist Front supports Aref,” he said during the inauguration of Aref’s campaign headquarters in the city of Chanaran.

Aref’s spokesman complains about Rowhani’s refrain from accepting the decision to unify behind Aref 

Although an interview with Hasan Rasooli (a deputy of Mohammad Reza Aref) with Iran’sView on Thursday shows some developments in the reformist’s front.

“Reformists will gain a better result if Dr. Aref and Dr. Rowhani agree on a mechanism initiated by Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami to determine a single candidate to remain in the race,” said Hasan Rasooli in an exclusive interview with Iran’sView.

Rasooli said Mohammad Khatami a key leader of the reformist front is trying to form a coalition.

The spokesman of Aref said the Reformist presidential candidate will welcome Khatami’s decision but he expects the decision to not be affected by “unreal inductions”.

“If Mr. Rowhani and his campaigners have more cooperation, we can reach a better result for the coalition,” this mild complaint from Rasooli can be a sign of Rowhani’s refrain from accepting the reformist leaders’ decision which seems to be a consensus on Aref as the candidate of the reformists.

Mohammad Khatami has a close relation with Aref, former vice president under Khatami’s administration. Aref also could gain a better result in polls compared to Rowhani.

On the other hand, Hashemi Rafsanjani a former two-term president of Iran and a powerful figure close to the reformists is closer to Hasan Rowhani. but Rowhani’s record as Iran’s top nuclear negotiator in talks with three European countries (Britain, France and Germany) which resulted in suspending all Iran’s nuclear activities is a weakness point of him that brings most attacks and critics of the Principalists.

This difference between the two most prominent reformist leaders maybe made the decision making more difficult. ”

“Anyways, Hashemi Rafsanjani and Khatami both will publicly support the final candidate of the reformists,” Aref’s deputy said in an exclusive interview with Iran’sView.

The post Khatami Trying To Unify Reformists Behind Aref first appeared on .

Iranians across the country and abroad are holding mourning ceremonies to mark the decease of Imam Khomeini.

A large number of people and officials gathered at Imam Khomeini’s Mausoleum in the south of the Iranian capital, Tehran, for a commemoration ceremony.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei addressed the gathering.

Every year, millions of Iranians from across the country travel to Tehran to pay tribute to the late founder of the Islamic Republic.

Rouhollah Mousavi Khomeini, who came to be known as Imam Khomeini, was born in the town of Khomein on September 24, 1902.

Imam Khomeini changed the lives of Iranians and inspired people from other countries by guiding one of the greatest revolutionary movements of modern history to victory.

Ayatollah Khomeini passed away on June 3, 1989, eleven days after he was taken to hospital for an operation to stop internal bleeding in May 1989.

With the passing away of Imam Khomeini, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei was elected the Leader of the Islamic Revolution by Iran’s Assembly of Experts.

The post In Photos: Iran is Commemorating the Passing of the Imam Khomeini first appeared on .

An analysis based on the results of three surveys conducted by three reliable Iranian polling centers shows that none of Iran’s presidential candidates would gain enough votes to win outright on the first ballot.

More than 50 million Iranians will head to the polls on June 14th to determine Iran’s next president. Iran’s Guardian Council has approved eight candidates to compete in the poll. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote a runoff is scheduled to be held a week later.

According to the Analysis seen by Iran’sView, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, mayor of Tehran and a Principalist candidate, would win almost 27% of the votes and would be one of two competitors in any run off and the second competitor would be either Saeed Jalili, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator or Ali Akbar Velayati a top advisor to the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei.

11.7% of voters surveyed decided to vote in favor of Saeed Jalili and 11.3% for Ali Akbar Velayati, both Principalist candidates.

A similar survey conducted in the 2009 presidential elections gave accurate results.

This poll was carried out in late April on more than 400,000 people in 31 provinces throughout Iran.

More than 51% of eligible voters have decided to participate in the presidential elections. One out of five voters surveyed said they chose not to participate in the elections.

More than 56% of voters said they will vote for one of the four Principalist candidates.

Beside, Ghalibaf, Jalili and Velayati,  Gholam Ali Hadad-Adel, another Principalist candidate would gain 6.7%, Mohsen Rezaei and  Mohammad Gharazi two independent candidates would have respectively 6.7% and 0.7% of the ballots.

Of Iran’s two candidates in the Reformists camp 5.6% of voters surveyed said they would vote for Mohammad Reza Aref and 3.1% would vote for Hassan Rowhani.

 Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former two-term president of Iran was the most popular candidate associated with the reformists but he was disqualified by Iran’s Guardian Council due to his old age and therefore his inability to take the responsibility of being president.

The results of the surveys have not been publicized so far, but Iran’sView received an analysis paper based on the three reliable surveys.

The post Iran’s Election: Poll Results Suggest a 50% turnout and A Run Off Voting first appeared on .

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei said “everyone should try to have an enthusiastic election with attendance of public. Since the Islamic revolution, strength and power of the Islamic regime was based on the support of the people.”

“All of presidential candidates reiterated on their commitment to the law,” said Ayatollah Khamenei in a meeting with members of Iran’s Majlis on Wednsday.

“[We] should appreciate all of candidates and especially those who did not qualified [to run for president], but chose to abide by the law,” he said.

Observers in Tehran believe that the today’s remarks by the Iran’s supreme leader mean that he will not re-install important disqualified candidates, such as Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Some political analysts believed Ayatollah Khamenei will use his authority to re-qualify the 78 year old former two-term president of Iran who disqualified by the Guardian Council due to his old age and inability in taking responsibility of the president.

Iran’s leader has called on all presidential candidates to be sincere and provide accurate information in their campaigns.

“The gentlemen have very important duties. They should be careful to not articulate anything that comes to mouth just to draw attentions.”

“The presidential candidates should only say the realities about the current situation and about themselves,” he said.

Denying allegations of leader’s support from a specific candidate, he said: “These [allegations] are false and no one knows who the leader will vote for.”

“The leader has only one vote as the other people,” he reiterated and dismissed western media propaganda about leader’s opinions. “The enemies put this propaganda on their agenda because of their known goals but the Islamic regime will stay on its path regardless of such propaganda.”

Iranians will go to the polls in the nation’s 11th presidential election on June 14.

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The 78 year old politician, who entered with much hype and went away silently, caused a unity among Pincipalists at first, but his withdrawal created division.

They don’t think of Mohammad Reza Aref, Mohsen Rezaei, Hasan Rowhani and Mohammad Gharazi as serious opponents, so they don’t feel the need for unity.

Four Pincipalist candidates are Ali Akbar Velayati, Muhammad Baqer Qalibaf and Haddad Adel who are three members of the Progressive Coalition or the Coalition of 2+1 who seem to be open to Saeed Jalili joining them.

The members of the Progressive Coalition were supposed to reach a consensus on one candidate, based on polls and surveys. But even 20 days after the agreement, no one stood aside for the sake of the other two.

Ali Akbar Velayati

Velayati, an advisor to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Sayed Ali Khamenei on International affairs, recently said “the three members of the coalition will keep campaigning and at a point before the voting day on June 14, we will decide who is going to be the final candidate.

He also said the decision by the Combatant Clergy Association and the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom (two highly influential clergy institutions in Iran) is highly capable of choosing the final candidate.

“The exact time of announcing the chosen candidate is not clear and depends on the coalition’s decision. Debates and talks will be held and they will decide by popularity, legitimacy and efficiency,” Shahin Mohammad Sadeghi, MP and the head of Velayati’s presidential campaign told Iran’sView.

He reiterated that the polls and surveys are just as important as the decision by the two important clergy institutions.

“Jalili’s involvement in the Progressive coalition is also relying on the decision by the coalition members. But the whole Principalist party is trying to reach an accord based on the decision of aforementioned institutions and public popularity,” he said.

Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf

Yet Qalibaf is not a fan of this idea. Because even though recent polls put him above Velayati and Haddad Adel, he will not have a chance with the two clergy institutions.

Gholam Ali Haddad Adel

Haddad Adel, former Speaker of the Majlis, said on Wednesday, “We think of Jalili as a Pincipalist and in case he joins our Progressive coalition only one of us will stand for presidency.”

Like Velayati, he believes in the final decision by the two clergy institutions, but “We also consider polls and we have to wait for the TV debates to assess the real outcome.”

It is not clear whether the coalition of 2+1will turn into 4, but Jalili hasn’t responded to the invitation by the coalition.

Saeed Jalili is known for being the chief nuclear negotiator among the public and has more votes from the Pincipalist party and other tough defenders of nuclear rights.

Head of the Hadad Adel presidential campaign, Hossein Nejabat has a different view from Sadeghi.

“When Mr.Velayati said [all members of the coalition] will campaign separately until the end, he did not mean campaigning until the voting day, but it might be the 6th or 7th of June,” he said in an interview with Iran’sView.

“The polls are taken one week before the election and will decide the fate of the progressive coalition. In fact, the coalition thinks public opinion is not shaped yet. They are waiting for the TV campaigns to decide on the final candidate. It is definite that three of them will not seek a spot on the ballot,” Nejabat said.

Nejabat also thinks differently about the decision of the two clergy institutions.

“Those institutions will not meddle in the election or decide on the final candidate,” he said, but “It is very important for the coalition that senior clerics are not against the final candidate so they are trying to be on the same path as them.”

He also denies inviting Jalili and says Hadad Adel did not invite him directly.

“A group of students asked Dr. Adel if he will accept Jalili as a member of the coalition if he stands for candidacy. Adel answered, if Jalili attracts a significant amount of voters we will consider his participation.”

Saeed Jalili

Bagheri Lankarani and Alireza Zakani withdrawal has boosted Jalili’s votes and gained him popularity but it seems that Jalili is not that willing to join the “Progressive Coalition”.

He is characterized by his firm stance on foreign policy, avoiding huge campaign expenditures and distancing himself from secular parts of society. This has distinguished him from other coalition members, especially Qalibaf.

Qalibaf and Velayati to some extent are not cynical about figures like Hashemi but Jalili is.

Even though he is more like Adel, because of his differences with Qalibaf, it is less likely that he will join the progressive coalition and this division will work for the benefit of the reformists.

If Qalibaf is to be the final candidate, many of Velayati and Adel supporters will abandon Qalibaf. Becuase Adel and Velayati to seem to think closer to Jalili.

We have to see if the possibility of the victory of the two independent candidates (Mohsen Reza’ei and Mohammad Gharazi) or the two Reformist candidates (Aref and Rowhani) will convince the Pinricpalists to set their differences aside or the elections will become more volite.

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