TEHRAN, 11 May 2005 — Powerful Iranian cleric and pragmatic conservative Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani confirmed yesterday he will stand again for president in the June 17 elections, amid widespread expectations he can beat off a field of mostly hard-line contenders. “He is a candidate. Finally his worries over the present situation have outweighed his doubts,” close aide and spokesman Reza Soleimani told reporters.
Rafsanjani, 70, is seen as a relative moderate — in favor of liberalizing the state-dominated economy and more open to improved ties with the West. He is also seen as having enough political clout to tackle the sensitive issue of ties with the United States, cut off for a quarter of a century since the revolution.
Iran’s future president will be facing the twin challenges of resolving a mounting standoff with the international community over the Islamic republic’s nuclear ambitions, as well as satisfying domestic demands to lower inflation and create more jobs.
A number of informal opinion polls have placed Rafsanjani far ahead of the competition — who are mostly from the ideological right-wing which stalled much of incumbent President Mohammad Khatami’s reform agenda.
Rafsanjani’s announcement came as the Interior Ministry opened its doors to those wishing to register to contest the polls. The ministry said 105, mostly unknown, figures submitted their candidacies during the first of five days of registration. After registering, would-be candidates will go through a tough screening process overseen by the Guardians Council — an unelected hard-line-controlled body that has the power to decide whose names can go on the ballot sheet.
Ahead of Iran’s parliamentary elections in 2004, the Guardians Council rejected 2,000 candidates, almost all of them reformists. Prior to the last presidential election in 2001, the Council accepted just 10 names out of 814. Women are automatically barred.
Four or five prominent hard-liners could stand, including two advisers to supreme leader Khamenei — former state broadcasting boss Ali Larijani and former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati.
Meanwhile, Iran confirmed plans yesterday to resume some sensitive nuclear work soon, shrugging off US and EU warnings it could be hauled before the UN Security Council as a result. “The decision to resume some activities has been taken and now we are discussing the timing for resuming. But this decision is imminent as well,” Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, told Reuters.
Asked if Iran, which says it wants nuclear power not weapons, would restart machinery currently under UN seals immediately after the decision was taken, he said: “Yes”. EU officials urged Iran not to resume any nuclear activities which it froze under a November agreement in Paris with Britain, France and Germany. Since then, Iran and the EU trio have held several rounds of talks aimed at reaching a mutually acceptable long-term arrangement for Iran’s nuclear program.
“The Paris agreement is based on one fundamental point — that the suspension remains in place,” said a British government official in London.
“There are very clear consequences and Iran knows the implications. The follow-on implication is a referral to the UN Security Council.”
