Ex-Leader of Iran Announces Candidacy

By Latoyia Kimbrough

According to an article in the New York Times there is a new Presidental Candidate in Iran. After many months of speculation, former President Mohammad Khatami, who favored more social and political freedom in Iran said that he would run in the presidential election held in June. He served eight years from 1997-2005 as President of Iran but his reformist allies in Parliament were banned from running for re-election. He announced his election at a news conference in Tehran saying that “I never had any doubts; it is possible to be indifferent”. Mr. Khatami has a broad base of supporters and he could pose a serious challenge to current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who was going to seek re-election. Mr. Khatami stated in his announcement in Tehran that “the Iranian nation’s historical demand is to have freedom, independence and justice, and I will work for that”. Mr. Ahmadinejad overturned many of the social and political freedoms that Mr. Khatami had placed into law. Iran’s supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has the ultimate power on domestic and foreign policy and he has on occasion favored Mr. Ahmadinejad in his speeches but it is unclear as of now who is the most likely to win the presidential race.