The debate, the first of three and intended to focus on the economy, was an opportunity where authorities had ensured that everything — from questions to seating arrangements — was neutral toward all candidates.

But the preparations and the staging aside, it was a debate mainly between two political schools of thought, Reformism and Principlism, even though seven candidates are running.  But in fact it was the best time for low-profile candidates to criticize the current President Hassan Rouhani’s government or put pressure on Hojjatoleslam Seyed Ebrahim Raeis who is the favorite to win the elections. And almost all of the candidates were already charged-up, staging preemptive attacks on the perceived rival in anticipation of potentially powerful offensives.

That was exemplified most clearly in the inclination of most, though not all, of the candidates to speak as they saw fit rather than to respond directly to the questions put forth to them by the moderator.

Principlist candidate Mohsen Rezaei, became the first to attack the President Rouhani administration — the subject of frequent criticism as the debate progressed — by calling his 2013 campaign symbol of a key “worthless.” And the former Central Bank Governor Nasser Hemmati delivered fiery opening remarks by saying that “a majority” of the Iranian society, including women, had no representation among the candidates, an explicit appraisal of the disqualification of some Reformist figures by Iran’s Constitutional Council from running in the election.

Alireza Zakani, a relatively lower-profile Principlist, took Hemmati’s critiques the hardest. “Mr. Hemmati, you are not running against five people, you are running against 85 million people,” he said, in an attempted rebuttal of Hemmati’s complaint that the five Principlist candidates are ganging up against him. And the duo continued to clash until the end of the debate.

Iranian presidential candidates have been focusing on the economy so far in their campaigns. Let’s see what they have said.

None of the candidates spared the Rouhani administration, even Hemmati, who was the governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) under Rouhani until days ago and who took much heat for that perceived affiliation with the president. Rezaei made sure that he identified Hemmati as “Mr. Rouhani’s representative,” and Zakani, replying to an accusation that he was running merely to “back up” Ebrahim Raeisi, the highest-profile Principlist candidate and the chief of Iran’s Judiciary, said it was actually Hemmati who was “covering the past eight years.”

But the former Rouhani administration official attempted to distance himself from the Iranian president, who faces a lot of criticism for the state of the economy. “I have been actually relieved of my duties (as CBI chief) because I held different views (on policy) than Mr. Rouhani,” Hemmati said. And he repeatedly dismissed Raeisi’s fellow-Principlists as mere “back-ups” for the Judiciary chief.

The most composed of all was Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh, who mostly stuck to the questions and avoided launching personal attacks. At one point, he even expressed exasperation at the others for continuing to attack one another instead of focusing on their own plans. And Sa’eed Jalilialso kept composed for most of the debate.

An uneasy moment came when Rezaei threatened that he would “deliver Hemmati to court” if elected. And Hemmati threatened back by saying he would deliver Rezaei to Raeisi, the Judiciary chief, if he wins.

Mohsen Mehr-Alizdeh, 65, kept the lowest profile for much of the debate, and he repeated a self-deprecating sound bite that his administration would be “a third Khatami administration,” referring to former President and leader of the Reformist faction Mohammad Khatami.

But it wasn’t all personal attacks. In the relatively limited time that was spent on laying out policy, and largely after a 15-minute intermission, the candidates toned down their rhetoric and offered more direct responses to queries.

But again in their closing remarks, most were long on bombast and short on policy. “I’m not the winner of the election,” Hemmati said, addressing the Iranian people, “because the majority of you have decided not to vote. But I ask you to please re-consider.”

Hemmati is trying to distance himself from the government while he is blamed as one of the culprits of the devaluation of the national currency.

Unfortunately the first debate saw only the war of accusations and criticisms rather than offering programs for the future and it showed that the reformist and moderate principlalist camps are trying the undermine Hojjatoleslam Raeisi who is the favorite candidate to win the election because of his better performance as the Judiciary Chief. It is interesting to see some candidates who were behind the current bad economic conditions are trying to acquit themselves by blaming others.

Candidates are better to present their programs rather than attacking at the former government or accusing the Judiciary chief or other bodies in the country. People will vote for the one with better programs and of course as the Supreme Leader has said, economy and better livelihood is the main issue that people will vote for it. It seems the era of electing the lesser of the evils has come to its end and people will not be deceived by the alluring promises of some candidates who are unable to fulfill them in practice.

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The much-awaited list, which was released on Tuesday, includes Saeed Jalili, Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi, Mohsen Rezaei, Alireza Zakani, Seyyed Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi, Albdolnasser Hemmati, Mohsen Mehralizadeh.

Raeisi has been the chief of Iran’s Judiciary since 2019. He is mainly associated with the Principlist camp, but he said he would be contesting the June 18 vote “independently.”

Rezaei, a Principlist, currently serves as the secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council.

Mehr-Alizadeh, a Reformist politician, formerly served as vice president and head of the National Sports Organization of Iran under ex-President Seyed Mohammad Khatami.

Jalili, a Principlist figure and former diplomat, served as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council from 2007 to 2013. In that capacity, he served as Iran’s top nuclear negotiator in talks with major world states on the country’s nuclear program.

Zakani is a Principlist politician and a lawmaker representing the city of Qom in the Iranian Parliament (Majlis).

Hemmati, affiliated with the Reformist camp, is an Iranian politician and economist who currently serves as the governor of the Central Bank of Iran.

Ghazizadeh-Hashemi is a Principlist politician and lawmaker.

A number of heavyweights, including Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri and former Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, as well as former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, were disqualified by the Constitutional Council from joining the presidential race.

According to official figures, 592 hopefuls had registered to join the forthcoming presidential race, pending approval by the Constitutional Council — which supervises Iran’s elections and is in charge of vetting hopefuls.

The Council, however, said only 40 out of the 592 hopefuls had submitted all the required documents to the panel through the Interior Ministry’s election HQ.

It took 10 days for the Council’s jurists to examine the qualifications of the hopefuls. Each hopeful had to secure at least seven out of the 12 votes to get the vetting body’s approval for running in the election.

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The statement said seven candidates were approved to run for office. The candidates are as following: Saeed Jalili, Seyed Ebrahim Raisi, Alireza Zakani, Seyed Amir Hossein Qazizadeh Hashemi, Mohsen Mehralizadeh, Mohsen Rezaei, and Abdolnaser Hemmati.

The candidates are now allowed to start election campaigns and then stop campaigning 24 hours before the start of the election day.

The 13th presidential election will be held on June 18.

Seyed Ebrahim Raeisi

Currently serving as the head of the Judiciary, Iran’s chief justice was born in 1960. He is considered a principlist politician. Raeisi has served in various positions in the judicial system, such as deputy chief justice from 2004 to 2014, and attorney general from 2014 to 2016.

He is also a member of the Assembly of Experts tasked to elect and monitor the performance of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution. He was elected to the assembly for the first time in the 2006 election from South Khorasan province.

Raeisi is one of the politicians who is subject to the U.S and the European Union sanctions. He was blacklisted in November 2019.

He has stated that he is seeking to establish a “strong Iran” if elected president in the June 18 polls.

Gaining a reputation for countering the corrupt and the embezzlers in the Judiciary, he said that he is in the race to “dry the corrupt substrates from the root and turn inefficiencies into efficiencies.”

Raeisi considers himself “part the people, with the people and by the people,” and believes that with the help of the people, he can overcome the problems.

Mohsen Rezaei

Major General Mohsen Rezaei was born in 1954. He led the Islamic Revolution Guards Corp for 17 years, from 1980 to 1997. He has received the first grade Order of Fath by the Commander-in-Chief three times, holding a record among military officials.

Rezaei ran for president twice in 2009 and 2013, losing to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hassan Rouhani respectively.

Stating that today is not a day to promise but a day to act, he believes that Iran needs a new path.

“We are ready to bring happiness back to Iranian families,” he said at the press conference held after registering at the Ministry of Interior on Saturday to run for president.

The former IRGC chief said if he succeeds to win the presidency, his administration will be seeking to bring back economic stability.

“I’m not here to cover up the truth. We will tell everything to the people honestly,” he claimed.

Stating that he has come to “shield” people against difficulties and not to use the people as shields, Rezaei said that he has plans to bring welfare for the people.

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