Ex-Parliament speaker Larijani submits bid to run for Iran president
Veteran Iranian politician Ali Larijani has registered to run in an early presidential election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raeisi.
Larijani, 66, a former Parliament speaker and currently a member of the Expediency Council, headed to the election headquarters at the Iranian Interior Ministry in Tehran on Friday to officially put his name down for the race.
He told journalists that one of his "priorities" if elected would be to "resolve the issue of (US) sanctions" in a bid to improve the country's economy.
“In my government, every competent and capable person with any political taste will be employed,” he added.
“The country's diplomacy should focus on the progress of Iran... The strategy of Iran as an important regional power is that the entire region should be safe and powerful.”
Often described as a moderate and a reformist, Larjiani served as the speaker of the Iranian Parliament from 2008 to 2020.
He was the secretary-general of the Supreme National Security Council between 2005 and 2007 and the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) from 1994 to 2004.
He ran and lost in the 2005 presidential election and was disqualified in 2021 by the Guardian Council.
Iran will vote for a new president on June 28. The election was called after Raeisi lost his life along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir- Abdollahian on May 19, when a helicopter carrying them crashed into a mountainous area in northwest Iran amid foggy conditions.
All presidential candidates ultimately must be approved by the 12-member Guardian Council, a panel that checks the qualifications of the hopefuls.
The five-day registration process began on Thursday. Mohsen Eslami, the spokesperson for Iran's election headquarters, said on Friday that six people have so far registered as a presidential candidate.
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