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Two Main Contenders Sign up for Iran's Presidential Election

FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2020, file photo, former Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani speaks to journalists at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2020, file photo, former Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani speaks to journalists at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
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Two Main Contenders Sign up for Iran's Presidential Election

FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2020, file photo, former Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani speaks to journalists at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
FILE - In this Feb. 17, 2020, file photo, former Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani speaks to journalists at the Iranian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

Two of the main contenders to become Iran's president, hardline judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi and former parliament speaker Ali Larijani, registered on Saturday to run in next month's election.

The June 18 election to succeed President Hassan Rouhani is seen as a test of the legitimacy of the country's clerical rulers who are hoping for a high turnout. Rouhani is barred by term limits from running again.

But voter interest may be hit by rising discontent over an economy that has been crippled by US sanctions reimposed after Washington exited a nuclear deal between Iran and major powers three years ago.

Raisi is a 60-year-old mid-ranking cleric in Iran’s establishment. Appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as head of the judiciary in March 2019, he has emerged as one of the country's most powerful figures and a contender to succeed Khamenei.

Larijani, a former nuclear negotiator and an adviser to Khamenei, is hoping to secure backing from both moderates and hardliners and bridge the gap between them.

"I have come as an independent to the stage to make changes in the executive management of the country and to fight poverty, corruption, humiliation and discrimination," Raisi was quoted as saying in a statement by local media before registering.

“I have come to form a strong people’s government for a strong Iran” with the help of “the brave youth,” Raisi said, apparently alluding to recent comments by Khamenei who said he expected a “capable and energetic government” to come to power.

The judiciary chief lost to Rouhani in the 2017 presidential election.

Reformists and rights activists say they are alarmed by Raisi's background as a hardline judge, especially during the 1980s when he was one of four judges who imposed death penalties on thousands of political prisoners.

Raisi said his government “will not lose one moment to lift the oppressive sanctions”.

First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, a moderate ally of Rouhani, also registered to run.

Registration of candidates ended on Saturday, after which entrants will be screened for their qualifications by the 12-member Guardian Council vetting body, which has in the past disqualified many moderates and reformers. Six of the members of the hardline body are named by Khamenei.

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Senior Israeli Army Officer among Suspects in ‘Leaks Scandal’

 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.
 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.
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Senior Israeli Army Officer among Suspects in ‘Leaks Scandal’

 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.
 A photo published by Israeli Channel 12 of the central suspect in the leaks case.

The arrest of a new senior army officer involved in a suspected leak of classified Gaza documents has sparked a wave of political controversy and public outcry in Israeli politics.
In the past few days, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and some individuals close to him tried to downplay the so-called “leaks scandal” and portrayed it as “just an ordinary incitement against the PM.”
But on Monday, an Israeli army officer was arrested by police investigators as part of the probe into leaked classified documents from the Prime Minister’s Office.
Hebrew media reports said the officer was relaxing with his wife and children in a hotel in the southern city of Eilat, when a force of masked policemen raided the place, arrested him, and took him to an investigation room in the Tel Aviv area without providing further information.
Observers suggest this officer is one of the security personnel who leaked and falsified documents from the military to compromise efforts to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
The arrest is the fifth so far in the high-profile investigation. The five suspects include a civilian spokesman from Netanyahu's circle and four members of the security establishment.
Hebrew media outlets on Monday uncovered new information about the central suspect in the case, Eli Feldstein, the only person whose name was allowed to be published. Feldstein has previously worked for National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. He then worked as a spokesman for Netanyahu from soon after the Hamas attack in southern Israel in October 2023.
According to people close to the investigation, one of the tasks assigned to Feldstein in the PM’s office was to “share with various media outlets security information that serves Netanyahu.”
Feldstein is suspected of receiving secret documents from army officers and then sharing them with a false interpretation to both the German Bild newspaper and the UK’s Jewish Chronicle, which are both close to Netanyahu and his wife.
The scandal started when details from a secret document were published by the German Bild newspaper on Sept. 6.
The report cited a document captured in Gaza indicating that Hamas’s main concern in ceasefire negotiations with Israel was to rehabilitate its military capabilities, and not to alleviate the suffering of Gaza’s civilian population. Bild said it had obtained the spring 2024 document exclusively, without offering further details. It said the document was found on a computer in Gaza that belonged to now-slain Hamas leader Sinwar.
Around the same time, Jewish Chronicle published a report saying that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar planned to smuggle hostages through the Philadelphi Corridor to Egypt.
Netanyahu has used those reports to justify his control over the Philadelphi Corridor along Gaza's border with Egypt and to thwart the hostages deal.
In the past days, the scandal has provoked sharp criticism from opposition leaders and the families of hostages.
The independent media said it highlighted “the corruption that knows no bounds” in the Netanyahu government.
Yossi Verter wrote in the Haaretz newspaper that, “Recent scandals among those in Netanyahu's inner circle reveal the nature of his entourage – a crime organization that places him above the country and national security concerns.”
Speaking about the main suspect in the case, Feldstein, Verter wrote, “The new star, burning with motivation to prove himself, quickly adapted to the office's corrupt semi-criminal atmosphere, its moral and ethical decay and its culture of lies, manipulation, and disinformation.”
At the Maariv newspaper, Shimon Hefetz, a colonel in the army reserve and military secretary to three Israeli presidents, spoke on Monday at the 29th anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, saying: “(The assassination) will forever be a shocking day for Israeli democracy, as it is happening in the Prime Minister's office today.”