Tehran Mayor Withdraws Candidacy from Iran's Presidential Elections

The mayor of Iran's capital, Tehran, Alireza Zakani, has withdrawn his candidacy for the presidential elections in favor of two other conservative candidates: Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and the representative of the Supreme Leader in the National Security Council, Saeed Jalili.

“I reached the very last deadline set by law, but continuing the line of the late President Ebrahim Raisi is more important. I urge Jalili and Ghalibaf to unite, not to leave the legitimate demands of the revolution's forces unanswered, and to prevent the emergence of Rouhani's third government,” Zakani wrote on his page on X.

Hassan Rouhani, Iran's president from 2013 to 2021, belongs to the reformist faction. The former Minister of Health, Masoud Pezeshkiyan, is the only candidate from that political current heading into the elections scheduled for June 28.

The withdrawing mayor of Tehran expressed hope that both Jalili and Ghalibaf, if victorious, “will side with truth and the rights of the people and will choose their partners among those who, according to the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, believe in the ideals of the revolution and the righteousness of the people.”

Earlier, it was reported that Iran's Vice President had also withdrawn from the presidential elections.