Abdol-Naser Hemmati said on Twitter that he would invite Mohammad-Javad Zarif to serve in his cabinet as either Vice President or Foreign Minister. Citing the lifting of sanctions as a priority for his government, Hemmati said Zarif will need to stay in a senior role as negotiations continue.
Disqualified candidate Ali Motahari said that “if all those who oppose [the decisions of] the Guardian Council and support free elections, including Reformists and Moderates, support Hemmati, then the chances that the elections will go to a second round are high”. Motahari encouraged Iranians to vote for Hemmati to “seize the remaining loophole of free elections”. Motahari said only through voting did Iranians have an opportunity to change the make-up of the current Guardian Council, and save their system. Some unsourced polls published earlier claimed that Hemmati could win the election with a turnout of 57%.
Seyyed Mehr Mousavi, the spokesman from the Election Headquarters from the Ministry of Interior, said that the result of the election will be announced before noon Saturday, within twelve hours of polls closing. Mousavi said that the Ministry had coordinated the counting of votes with the Guardian Council and officials in polling stations throughout Iran, so the announcement of the final result will be swift and simultaneous.
Ebrahim Raisi held a meeting with the editors of several Reformist-affiliated media outlets. The editors of Sharq, Donya-e-Eqtesad, the ISNA and several other Reformist-affiliates, alongside the editors of the IRNA news agency, praised Raisi’s performance as Chief Justice and his plans for president. Raisi ominously added in turn that no newspaper had ever been banned under his direction. The editors’ endorsement runs contrary to most other Reformists, who have supported either Abdul Nasser Hemmati or Mohsen Mehr Alizadeh.
Hadi Khamenei, brother of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, published an open letter to Abdol-Naser Hemmati and Mohsen Mehr-Alizadeh, addressing them as “Reformists” and telling them form a coalition. Khamenei wrote to the two candidates that “your efforts in defence of the Republic and of reform for the transformation of the Iranian people are commendable… I ask you to form an alliance with each other and unite with the presence of one of the two of you in the race”. Khamenei said that Hemmati and Mehr-Alizadeh would set a good example to the people of Iran by doing so in service of their country.
Mohsen Rezaei appeared on a Clubhouse Q&A session this evening to promote his campaign. Rezaei promised to resolve the JCPOA nuclear agreement immediately upon taking office and to sign the FATF once sanctions are lifted. Rezaei said he would improve the process for vetting presidential candidates by providing “specialised tools” to the Guardian Council and promised to better manage internet filtering but not eliminate it. Rezaei also promised to include Sunni Iranians in his cabinet.
Ali-Reza Zakani took aim at the Minister of Communications, Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, criticising his stance on internet filtering. Zakani mocked Azari Jahromi for being a self-styled “Minister for Freedom” and called the Minister disingenuous for presenting himself as a progressive since he was responsible for the portfolio that enforced internet filtering.
Disqualified candidate Ali Larijani became the latest high-profile figure to release a statement encouraging people to vote on June 18. Larijani asked Iranians to put aside the controversy of the country’s internal and external problems and show that their will is greater than those they blame for Iran’s failures.
Upon hearing the false news that Ali-Reza Zakani had resigned from the race, Abdol-Naser Hemmati jumped on the news saying it proved the point he had made throughout the debate: that Zakani – along with Ghazizadeh, Jalili and Rezaei – are “cover candidates” for Raisi. However, once it became apparent that the news was false and Zakani was still a candidate, Hemmati deleted the tweet.
Ebrahim Raisi arrived unannounced at the Tehran Stock Exchange and Securities Hall this morning and held impromptu meetings with officials and senior figures there. Raisi is believed to be the second high-ranking official in the history of the Islamic Republic to visit the Tehran Stock Exchange after the late former President Hashemi Rafsanjani.