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2 divisive figures enter Iran's presidential race

MTN1917

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2 divisive figures enter Iran's presidential race

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A pair of powerful and divisive figures registered Saturday to run in Iran's presidential election, providing a jolt to the political scene a month ahead of the vote.

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who still wields enormous influence, and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close confident of current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, submitted their official paperwork just before Saturday's deadline. State TV showed both men at the Interior Ministry signing up. A smiling Ahmadinejad accompanied Mashaei and raised the man's hand in a gesture of support.

The two hopefuls' entry into the race presents a tough challenge to conservative candidates loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and will likely intensify competition between rival groups in the June 14 vote.

Rafsanjani now stands as the prime hopeful for reformists, who were crushed and left leaderless after a government crackdown on mass street protests following Ahmadinejad's disputed 2009 election victory.

A Rafsanjani win would likely open the way for the easing of tensions with the outside world and distance Iran from Ahmadinejad's bombastic style and the hardline policies of the Islamic Republic's conservative camp.

Iran is grappling with tough oil and banking sanctions imposed by the West over Tehran's controversial nuclear program, which have caused the country's income from oil and gas exports to drop about 50 percent. The West fears Iran may ultimately be able to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

The decision of Rafsanjani and Mashaei to run greatly reduces the chance of a Khamenei loyalist winning the vote. About two dozen conservatives, including former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, who is now a top adviser to Khamenei, and Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, have registered their candidacies as well.

But Rafsanjani's candidacy means conservative hopefuls likely will have to step aside to limit the number of hardline figures in the race to have a minimum of hope for victory.

The hardline Guardian Council, a constitutional watchdog, will vet the applicants before allowing them to run.

Mashaei, who has drawn the wrath of Khamenei in recent years, said he will respect the law if the council scratches his candidacy.

"All must give in to the law," he told reporters.

Ahmadinejad is barred by law from seeking a third term due to term limits under Iran's constitution.

2 divisive figures enter Iran's presidential race

That A hole Rafsanjani will not leave us alone :suicide2:, some of his supporters were chanting صلی علی محمد ناجی ایران امد and درود بر رفسنجانی سلام بر خاتمی
maybe they have forgotten that only time in 3 decades that the inflation was even more than now was during his presidency(50 percent)
 
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Yo bro's, if Rafsanjani gets in - we're going to have to eliminate him pronto.

He threatened us with nukes.

We can't stand for it bro's. We're taking him out if he becomes pres.
 
be my guest.
Not a fan bro?

All I know about him is that speech he made about using nukes on Israel.

But he is widely reported in western media as being a 'moderate'. :cuckoo:

I just want an Iranian leader that doesn't talk death and destruction about other countries or tries to rewrite history from the 1930's.

Not too much to ask bro, is it?
 
Not a fan bro?

All I know about him is that speech he made about using nukes on Israel.

But he is widely reported in western media as being a 'moderate'. :cuckoo:

I just want an Iranian leader that doesn't talk death and destruction about other countries or tries to rewrite history from the 1930's.

Not too much to ask bro, is it?

You'll get one as soon as Israel stops ACTING death and destruction!
 
Not a fan bro?

All I know about him is that speech he made about using nukes on Israel.

But he is widely reported in western media as being a 'moderate'. :cuckoo:

I just want an Iranian leader that doesn't talk death and destruction about other countries or tries to rewrite history from the 1930's.

Not too much to ask bro, is it?

way too much

you can't ask wahabis/taliban to respect other human beings and stop terrorizing every human being. Similarly you can't ask these mullahs to act like cultured and civilized human beings.

These are not Iranian leaders btw. They are dictators. A dictator is not a chosen representative and as such cannot be a legitimate leader. It's better to describe them as "current owners of Iran" b/c that's pretty much what it's. They own the country and they do what they like with its people and resources.
 
Not a fan bro?

All I know about him is that speech he made about using nukes on Israel.

But he is widely reported in western media as being a 'moderate'. :cuckoo:

I just want an Iranian leader that doesn't talk death and destruction about other countries or tries to rewrite history from the 1930's.

Not too much to ask bro, is it?
people change man, and the way Rafsanjani has changed is definitely your ideal. for info, he was part of green sh!t that has full support of UK and Israel.
next president will be one of these: Jalili, Lankarani and haddad adel.
all we want is a president that doesn't stay silence against death and destruction and fake history.
 
way too much

you can't ask wahabis/taliban to respect other human beings and stop terrorizing every human being. Similarly you can't ask these mullahs to act like cultured and civilized human beings.

These are not Iranian leaders btw. They are dictators. A dictator is not a chosen representative and as such cannot be a legitimate leader. It's better to describe them as "current owners of Iran" b/c that's pretty much what it's. They own the country and they do what they like with its people and resources.

It's true bro - but even the most tyrannical dictatorships have fallen, and so will this.

Maybe not all at once, maybe it will slowly disintegrate with a generation of successively more moderate presidents.

people change man, and the way Rafsanjani has changed is definitely your ideal. for info, he was part of green sh!t that has full support of UK and Israel.
next president will be one of these: Jalili, Lankarani and haddad adel.
all we want is a president that doesn't stay silence against death and destruction and fake history.

Bro, you sound like you want things to stay the same or get even worse.

Why do you want your country to obsess so much about mine? it's not healthy. We don't even have a border, yet so much energy and time by your leadership has gone into obsessing over Israel.
 
Bro, you sound like you want things to stay the same or get even worse.

Why do you want your country to obsess so much about mine? it's not healthy. We don't even have a border, yet so much energy and time by your leadership has gone into obsessing over Israel.
when you know the source of terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda, Jondollah, MKO,... ,then it's Israel who is attacking us, most of terrorists that we arrest confess about their trainings in Israel.
and what do you expect when Israel occupies Palestinian lands and bombard them from land, sea and air,to stay silence?!!!
no one is obsessed, U.S is sending any kind of support from 8000 km away, and we help Lebanon and Palestine that are only 2000km away.
 
Not a fan bro?

All I know about him is that speech he made about using nukes on Israel.

But he is widely reported in western media as being a 'moderate'. :cuckoo:

I just want an Iranian leader that doesn't talk death and destruction about other countries or tries to rewrite history from the 1930's.

Not too much to ask bro, is it?

You dont want to see people talking destruction but your occupier israhell did and yet is destroying the palestinian lands. This is a sharp paradox.
 
Not a fan bro?

All I know about him is that speech he made about using nukes on Israel.

But he is widely reported in western media as being a 'moderate'. :cuckoo:

I just want an Iranian leader that doesn't talk death and destruction about other countries or tries to rewrite history from the 1930's.

Not too much to ask bro, is it?

Rafsanjani just said that "Israel is not Iran's enemy" so I think he is your guy! Are you sure about assassinating him?
 

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