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Conservatives Unite in Tehran to Maintain Parliamentary Control

Iranians pass by a booth displaying campaign posters on Saturday (AFP)
Iranians pass by a booth displaying campaign posters on Saturday (AFP)
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Conservatives Unite in Tehran to Maintain Parliamentary Control

Iranians pass by a booth displaying campaign posters on Saturday (AFP)
Iranians pass by a booth displaying campaign posters on Saturday (AFP)

Key factions within the Iranian conservative camp have agreed on a joint list for the upcoming legislative elections in Tehran. This agreement comes amidst efforts by authorities to encourage voter turnout.

Government sources reported on Sunday that the “Popular Front of Islamic Revolution Forces” political alliance, led by current parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, and the hardline “Front of Islamic Revolution Stability,” have agreed on a unified list of candidates.

They aim to maintain control over 30 constituencies in Tehran and its suburbs.

Ghalibaf, a former Revolutionary Guards commander, will lead the list alongside Morteza Aghatehrani, a hardline cleric and current member of parliament.

The joint list has been confirmed as final by both sides. There were discussions between the factions before reaching this agreement.

Despite earlier reports suggesting a change in Ghalibaf’s electoral district, he remains at the forefront of the conservative list in Tehran.

Some conservative figures have voiced concerns about the increasing number of electoral lists, which could boost the chances of independent or moderate-conservative aligned candidates.

Confirmation of Ghalibaf’s candidacy in Tehran came alongside news that a member of his team, Deputy Mohsen Dehnavi, had agreed to withdraw. This decision followed allegations of bribery involving an Iranian factory owner.

Efforts to encourage voter turnout have intensified amid concerns over public discontent and economic challenges due to US sanctions.

These elections follow widespread protests in 2022 after the death of Mahsa Amini during police custody over a veiling dispute.

President Ebrahim Raisi hopes for a robust parliament to support the people and government, while Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian sees every vote as a statement of Iran’s standing internationally.

Key players in the reformist camp are leaning towards staying out of the elections after their main candidates refused to run, demanding certain conditions be met first.

However, former conservative lawmaker Ali Motahari, with support from moderates, recently announced the formation of the “Voice of the People” electoral list, which includes some reformists, moderates, and independents.

Last week, prominent reformist activists criticized a statement signed by 110 reformist activists, some living outside Iran, urging participation in the elections.

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Russia Says Last Ukrainian Troops Expelled from Kursk Region, Kyiv Denies Assertion

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a videoconference meeting with Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence near Moscow, Russia, 26 April 2025, to receive a report on the completion of a military operation to liberate Russia's Kursk region from Ukrainian forces. (EPA/Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik/Kremlin)
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a videoconference meeting with Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence near Moscow, Russia, 26 April 2025, to receive a report on the completion of a military operation to liberate Russia's Kursk region from Ukrainian forces. (EPA/Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik/Kremlin)
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Russia Says Last Ukrainian Troops Expelled from Kursk Region, Kyiv Denies Assertion

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a videoconference meeting with Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence near Moscow, Russia, 26 April 2025, to receive a report on the completion of a military operation to liberate Russia's Kursk region from Ukrainian forces. (EPA/Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik/Kremlin)
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a videoconference meeting with Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence near Moscow, Russia, 26 April 2025, to receive a report on the completion of a military operation to liberate Russia's Kursk region from Ukrainian forces. (EPA/Alexander Kazakov/Sputnik/Kremlin)

Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed on Saturday what he said was the complete failure of an offensive by Ukrainian forces in Russia's Kursk region after Moscow said they had been expelled from the last village they had been holding.

Russia also confirmed for the first time that North Korean soldiers have been fighting alongside Russian troops in Kursk, with the chief of the military General Staff praising their "heroism" in helping to drive out the Ukrainians.

However, Kyiv denied that its forces had been expelled from Kursk and said they were also still operating in Belgorod, another Russian region bordering Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces seized a swathe of territory in Kursk region last August in a surprise incursion that embarrassed Putin. Russian forces, later reinforced by North Korean troops, have been trying ever since to drive them out.

Putin, speaking amid intensified diplomatic efforts by the Trump administration to end the Ukraine conflict, said the expulsion of Ukrainian forces from Russian soil opened the way for further Russian successes inside Ukraine.

"The Kyiv regime's adventure has completely failed," Putin said in video footage released by the Kremlin that showed him receiving a report from the head of Russia's general staff, Valery Gerasimov.

"The full defeat of the enemy in the Kursk border region creates conditions for further successful actions by our forces on other important parts of the front," Putin added.

Gerasimov told Putin that the last occupied settlement in the Kursk region, the village of Gornal, had been "liberated from Ukrainian units" on Saturday.

"Thus, the defeat of the armed formations of the Ukrainian armed forces that had invaded the Kursk region has been completed," Gerasimov said.

The Ukrainian military, in a statement later posted on social media platform Telegram, said its forces were continuing their operations in some districts of Kursk region.

Ukraine also denied Gerasimov's assertion that all Ukrainian "sabotage groups" had been "liquidated" in Belgorod region, where Kyiv's forces launched an incursion last month.

Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield assertions of either side.

Russia's Defense Ministry said the armed forces were now helping authorities in the Kursk region to restore "peaceful life" and to remove mines planted there.

NORTH KOREANS

Gerasimov praised the North Korean officers and soldiers' contribution in Kursk, saying they had shown "high professionalism, fortitude, courage and heroism", fulfilling combat tasks "shoulder to shoulder" with Russian servicemen.

North Korea sent an estimated total of 14,000 troops, including 3,000 reinforcements to replace its losses, Ukrainian officials said. Lacking armored vehicles and drone warfare experience, they took heavy casualties but adapted quickly.

Russia had previously neither confirmed nor denied the presence of North Korean troops in Kursk.

Russia's military cooperation with North Korea has grown rapidly since Moscow became internationally isolated after invading Ukraine in February 2022.

Kyiv says North Korea has supplied Russia with vast amounts of artillery shells as well as rocket systems, thousands of troops and ballistic missiles, which Moscow began using for strikes against Ukraine at the end of 2023.

Russia and North Korea have denied weapons transfers, which would violate UN embargoes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had hoped his forces' seizure of Russian territory would give him a bargaining chip in any future talks to end the war in his country.

Zelenskiy held what the White House described as a "very productive" meeting with US President Donald Trump on Saturday in Rome, where both leaders were attending the funeral of Pope Francis.

Trump is pressuring Zelenskiy to agree to give up some Ukrainian territory to help end the three-year war that has caused large-scale casualties and devastation in cities, towns and villages across Ukraine.