TEHRAN: Two Iranian political heavyweights, ultra-conservative Ebrahim Raisi and moderate conservative Ali Larijani, on Saturday launched what may be the main battle in next month’s presidential election.

Hopefuls have been registering ahead of June 18 polls to select a successor to moderate President Hassan Rouhani, who is constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive term.

First to throw down the gauntlet on Saturday was Larijani, a long-time parliament speaker and now adviser to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, submitting his name at the interior ministry early on the final day of registration.

Then it was the turn of judiciary chief and one-time presidential hopeful Raisi, who was Rouhani’s leading rival in 2017 elections, to announce his own candidacy.

While several other hopefuls have thrown their hats into the ring, “the main clash will be between Mr Raisi and Mr Larijani,” Masoud Bastani, a Tehran-based journalist said.

“The first represents the ultraconservative faction and part of traditional conservatives ... and the second the traditional conservatives and moderates, and by proxy, reformists,” he added.

Since registration to run in the election began on Tuesday, more than 300 hopefuls have submitted bids to stand, according to the interior ministry.

Others who registered on Saturday included secretary of the Expediency Council and ex-commander of Revolutionary Guards General Mohsen Rezai, Iran’s ultraconservative former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, and Rouhani’s first vice president Eshaq Jahangiri.

All the hopefuls will be vetted by the conservative-dominated Guardian Council, who will publish a list of approved candidates by May 27, after which campaigning begins.

Larijani threw the first jab at Raisi and at several other candidates with military backgrounds, in a press conference after registering.

“The economy is neither a garrison nor a court that would be managed with shouts and orders,” he told reporters.

He said he had put his name into the race because he felt that other presidential hopefuls were not capable of solving the country’s “main problem” — the sanctions-hit economy.

Larijani is a supporter of the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which had offered Iran relief from sanctions in return for limitations on its nuclear activities.

The deal has been on life-support since former US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew Washington from it in 2018, and reimposed punishing sanctions on Tehran.

Larijani also accused anyone “promising paradise” of “speaking falsely”.

Raisi, in comments seemingly aimed at Rouhani’s camp and allies like Larijani, said those responsible for Iran’s “current situation cannot be those who change the current situation”.

He told journalists he was “a rival to corruption, inefficiency and aristocracy” and urged “even those who feel hopeless” to vote.

Published in Dawn, May 16th, 2021