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Rouhani, Larijani Await 'Positive Signs' to Enter Election Race

Former President Hassan Rouhani and his ally, former Speaker Ali Larijani, during an event in Tehran (Jamaran)
Former President Hassan Rouhani and his ally, former Speaker Ali Larijani, during an event in Tehran (Jamaran)
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Rouhani, Larijani Await 'Positive Signs' to Enter Election Race

Former President Hassan Rouhani and his ally, former Speaker Ali Larijani, during an event in Tehran (Jamaran)
Former President Hassan Rouhani and his ally, former Speaker Ali Larijani, during an event in Tehran (Jamaran)

Reformist sources have revealed that former President Hassan Rouhani and his ally, former Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, are eagerly awaiting "positive indications" from the authorities to actively participate in the upcoming parliamentary elections scheduled for February.

Larijani and Rouhani, both affiliated with the moderate conservative movement, are looking to reestablish their alliance with the "reformist movement" to return to the forefront of the political scene.

The reformist news website "Insaaf News" reported that prominent figures within the moderate faction will kick off election activities if they perceive positive signs from the authorities.

According to the sources, Rouhani and Larijani are expected to take on prominent roles in the upcoming parliamentary elections. They plan to present a joint electoral list, contingent upon the fulfillment of "honorable and legal" participation conditions.

The sources said the list will be supported by former reformist President Mohammed Khatami, his ally Hasan Khomeini, the grandson of the late Supreme Leader Khomeini, and Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri, close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

They believe that Khatami and Nategh-Nouri can help the two currents and encourage their supporters to participate in the elections "if the right conditions are met."

Ensaf News reported that Hasan Khomeini is "a central figure among the moderates" and can influence political and social events in the country.

However, a close source said that the issues raised about the electoral activities of Rouhani and Larijani are more like "speculations and analysis."

The website indicated that some members of the five figures' teams are skeptical about the recent developments, fearing they would engage in electoral activities without providing the requirements for participation.

However, the Ensaf website expected a "moderate electoral coalition" would be welcomed by the "conservative coalition" that controls the government and most parliamentary seats because their political activities will not stand out without rivals.

Rouhani lived semi-isolation after his presidential term ended, especially since Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei did not appoint him to the Expediency Discernment Council, as he did with former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

- Elections

Last April, Rouhani called for holding free elections and a referendum on foreign and domestic policy and economic management.

Larijani's role in the Iranian political arena has been restricted after he was removed from the presidential elections following a decision of the Guardian Council.

Aside from the parliamentary elections, Iran will witness the polls for the Assembly of Experts for Leadership, which includes 88 influential clerics who name the successor to the current Supreme Leader if he cannot carry out his duties.

The Assembly of Experts elections are also important and sensitive. The past elections sparked controversy after Hassan Khomeini was removed from the list of candidates for not meeting the conditions.

Rouhani, Hassan Khomeini, and Nategh-Nouri could be on the list of candidates, knowing that Khomeini's grandson is one of the primary candidates to succeed Khamenei.

The upcoming legislative elections come after the widespread popular protests that the authorities accused the Western powers of "supporting" in the wake of the death of the young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, last September.

- Confirmation of participation

Khamenei rejected requests for a referendum on the fate of the origin of the ruling establishment to overcome the current structure and establish a secular system of elections, and decide on the eligibility of candidates.

In one of his speeches last April, the Supreme Leader urged senior officials to define strategies for participation, competition, security, and integrity in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The Guardian Council then announced that it had started setting up procedures for the upcoming February elections.

Recently, the Minister of the Interior, Ahmed Vahidi, issued instructions to the governors of the provinces to reduce communication and cooperation with lawmakers.

Vahidi's decision sparked controversy, and more than 200 lawmakers tabled a motion to impeach him. But Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said that the Minister requested a two-week postponement.

President Ebrahim Raisi said that the government, as the executive of the elections, will not interfere in the affairs of the candidates and in supporting or creating restrictions for them.

The Iranian presidency website quoted Raisi saying at the Sunday cabinet meeting that holding healthy, competitive, and high-participation elections promotes national security and public trust.

- Reform movement

The reformist parties affiliated with the "Reform Front" nominated the activist Azar Mansouri as its head, according to the Etemad Online website.

Mansouri, 59, who has close ties to former President Mohammad Khatami, will succeed the reform activist Behzad Nabavi, who held the post for two years.

Mansouri was among the reformist activists arrested after the Green Movement protests that hit the country after the reformists questioned the 2009 presidential elections after Ahmadinejad won a second term.

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NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks after Russia’s Attack with New Hypersonic Missile

A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)
A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)
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NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks after Russia’s Attack with New Hypersonic Missile

A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)
A missile shrapnel lies on the grass in front of damaged rehabilitation center for people with disabilities, following a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, on November 22, 2024. (AFP)

NATO and Ukraine will hold emergency talks Tuesday after Russia attacked a central city with an experimental, hypersonic ballistic missile that escalated the nearly 33-month-old war.

The conflict is “entering a decisive phase,” Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday, and “taking on very dramatic dimensions.”

Ukraine’s parliament canceled a session as security was tightened following Thursday's Russian strike on a military facility in the city of Dnipro.

In a stark warning to the West, President Vladimir Putin said in a nationally televised speech to his nation that the attack with the intermediate-range Oreshnik missile was retaliation for Kyiv’s use of US and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory.

Putin said Western air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov kept up Russia's bellicose tone on Friday, blaming “the reckless decisions and actions of Western countries” in supplying weapons to Ukraine to strike Russia.

"The Russian side has clearly demonstrated its capabilities, and the contours of further retaliatory actions in the event that our concerns were not taken into account have also been quite clearly outlined," he said.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, widely seen as having the warmest relations with the Kremlin in the European Union, echoed Moscow's talking points, suggesting the use of US-supplied weapons in Ukraine likely requires direct American involvement.

“These are rockets that are fired and then guided to a target via an electronic system, which requires the world’s most advanced technology and satellite communications capability,” Orban said on state radio. “There is a strong assumption ... that these missiles cannot be guided without the assistance of American personnel.”

Orban cautioned against underestimating Russia’s responses, emphasizing that the country’s recent modifications to its nuclear deployment doctrine should not be dismissed as a “bluff.” “It’s not a trick... there will be consequences,” he said.

Separately in Kyiv, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský called Thursday's missile strike an “escalatory step and an attempt of the Russian dictator to scare the population of Ukraine and to scare the population of Europe.”

At a news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Lipavský also expressed his full support for delivering the necessary additional air defense systems to protect Ukrainian civilians from the “heinous attacks.”

He underlined that the Czech Republic will impose no limits on the use of its weapons and equipment given to Ukraine.

Three lawmakers from Ukraine's parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, confirmed that Friday's previously scheduled session was called off due to the ongoing threat of Russian missiles targeting government buildings in central Kyiv.

In addition, there also was a recommendation to limit the work of all commercial offices and nongovernmental organizations "in that perimeter, and local residents were warned of the increased threat,” said lawmaker Mykyta Poturaiev, who added this is not the first time such a threat has been received.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office continued to work in compliance with standard security measures, a spokesperson said.

Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate said the Oreshnik missile, whose name in Russian means “hazelnut tree,” was fired from the Kapustin Yar 4th Missile Test Range in Russia’s Astrakhan region, and flew 15 minutes before striking Dnipro. The missile had six nonnuclear warheads each carrying six submunitions and reached a spoeed of Mach 11, it said.

Test launches of a similar missile were conducted in October 2023 and June 2024, the directorate said. The Pentagon confirmed the missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate-range missile based on its RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.

Thursday's attack struck the Pivdenmash plant that built ICBMs when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union. The military facility is located about 4 miles (6 1/2 kilometers) southwest of the center of Dnipro, a city of about 1 million that is Ukraine’s fourth-largest and a key hub for military supplies and humanitarian aid, and is home to one of the country’s largest hospitals for treating wounded soldiers from the front before their transfer to Kyiv or abroad.

The stricken area was cordoned off and out of public view. With no fatalities reported from the attack, Dnipro residents resorted to dark humor on social media, mostly focused on the missile’s name, Oreshnik.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russia struck a residential district of Sumy overnight with Iranian-designed Shahed drones, killing two people and injuring 13, the regional administration said..

Ukraine’s Suspilne media, quoting Sumy regional head Volodymyr Artiukh, said the drones were stuffed with shrapnel elements. “These weapons are used to destroy people, not to destroy objects,” said Artiukh, according to Suspilne.