In a working-class district of Tehran teeming with porters, motorbikes and pickup trucks, residents have little enthusiasm about next week’s presidential election. Iranians have tried it all — reformists, establishment figures, rabble-rousing populists, and for the past four years a moderate cleric, President Hassan Rouhani, who struck a historic deal to reintegrate Iran into the … Read more
Iran’s conservatives announced a shortlist of five presidential candidates on Thursday as they experimented with their first-ever democratic primary in a bid to find a leader to challenge President Hassan Rouhani. Fearing another defeat at the hands of the moderate president in next month’s election, a new alliance called the Popular Front of Revolutionary Forces … Read more
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is credited with pulling the economy back from the brink, but less than two months before his re-election bid, has he done enough to convince voters? “This year was full of stress — no jobs, recession, a stagnant housing market,” said Ali Bakhtiyari, a jeweller in the Tajrish bazaar of northern … Read more
Iran’s hardline former president Mahmud Ahmadinejad became the latest leader to join Twitter on Sunday, despite having been instrumental in getting it banned from the country. Ahmadinejad’s first tweet from his personal account was a video in which he called on people to follow him at @Ahmadinejad1956. “In the name of God Peace be upon … Read more
Iran’s ex-president Mahmud Ahmadinejad published Sunday an open letter to Donald Trump, welcoming his criticism of the US political system but taking issue with his visa ban and attitude to women. Many Iranians see the new US president as cut from the same cloth as Ahmadinejad, who shocked the establishment with his sudden rise to … Read more
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has decided to run for re-election in May, the vice-president for parliamentary affairs said on Sunday, according to state news agency IRNA. “In recent weeks, Mr Rouhani has reached a conclusion to take part in the presidential elections,” Hosseinali Amiri told reporters. Rouhani, a 68-year-old moderate who has pushed for greater … Read more