Six presidential candidates in Iran discussed during a 4-hour televised debate on Monday the country's economic problems under the sanctions of the United States and other Western countries, AP reports.
It is the first of five debates scheduled in the remaining 10 days before the vote in a shortened campaign to replace Raisi, a hardline protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who was once seen as a possible successor to the 85-year-old cleric.
They all promised they would try to lift sanctions and introduce reforms, but none gave details. The candidates also discussed inflation, the budget deficit, Iran's housing problem and the fight against corruption.
We recall that the presidential elections were scheduled for June 28 after the helicopter crash last month that killed President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials.
The election comes at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the West over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program, the arming of Russia in that country's war against Ukraine and a crackdown on dissent.
Iran's support for groups across the Middle East, meanwhile, is increasingly in the spotlight as Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels attack ships in the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Five of the candidates are hardliners, while the sixth candidate, lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian, 69, is a heart surgeon who has the support of some reformers.
The most prominent candidate remains Mohammad Bagher Kalibaf, 62, a former mayor of Tehran with close ties to the country's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. However, many remember that Qalibaf, as a former General of the Guard, was involved in a brutal crackdown on Iranian university students in 1999. He also ordered the use of gunfire against students in 2003 while he was police chief in the country.
Among the presidential candidates are Iran's Vice President Amir Hossein Kazizadeh Hashemi, 53, and the current mayor of Tehran, Ali Reza Zakani, 58. Supreme National Security Council member Saeed Jalili, 58, and cleric Mostafa Pourmohammadi, 64, a former interior minister under former relatively moderate President Hassan Rouhani, are also in the race.
Kalibaf promised he would be "strong" a president who will support the poor, manage the economy better and work to lift sanctions through diplomatic means.
Pezeshkian said the sanctions were a "disaster" and also lobbied for fewer restrictions on the Internet. Iran has long blocked Facebook, X, Instagram, Telegram and other major social media platforms and messaging systems, mainly for security reasons
The topic of the broken nuclear deal was not commented on. Khamenei has the final say on all important state matters, including nuclear, foreign policy, space and military programs.
Raisi won Iran's 2021 presidential election in a vote with the lowest turnout in the Islamic Republic's history.