Iran on Thursday began formally registering candidates ahead of next month's presidential election to choose the successor to the late Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash.
“Candidate registration for the 14th presidential election began at 8 a.m. (4:30 a.m. GMT) at the Ministry of Interior,” the state-run Iran News Agency reported.
IRNA added that presidential candidates must register within five days.
Elections were originally scheduled for 2025 but were brought forward following Raisi's sudden death on May 19.
Raisi and his seven-member entourage, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, were killed when their plane crashed into a mist-shrouded mountainside in northern Iran.
The Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed Vice President Mohammed Mokbel, 68, as interim president, in accordance with the constitution.
State television reported Thursday that “around 30 people” had submitted applications to run, but “none of them met the basic qualifications.”
An AFP correspondent later saw former reformist lawmaker Mostafa Kavakebian and current conservative lawmaker Mohammadreza Sabbaghian submit their applications to the ministry.
State television later aired a video of Saeed Jalili, a former deputy foreign minister and nuclear negotiator known for his hardline stance in negotiations, announcing his candidacy.
The ultra-conservative Mr Jalili, 58, blasted the 2015 nuclear deal with countries around the world, saying Iran had crossed a “red line” by accepting “extraordinary inspections” of its nuclear facilities.
He withdrew from the presidential race in the 2021 elections and supported Raisi's candidacy.
According to Iran's election law, candidates must be between 40 and 75 years old and have at least a master's degree.
As in previous elections, the main candidates representing Iran's main political camps are expected to submit their applications towards the end of the registration process.
The final list of candidates is expected to be announced on June 11 by the Guardian Council, a 12-member body of jurists appointed or approved by the supreme leader.
The body disqualified several reformists and moderates ahead of the 2021 presidential elections that brought ultra-conservative Raisi to power.
Turnout in these elections was the lowest ever for a presidential poll, at 48.8%.
The June vote comes at a turbulent time amid an escalating Gaza conflict between Iran's arch enemy Israel and the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas, and ongoing diplomatic tensions over Iran's nuclear program.
ap/mz/dcp
