Bahonar: We Have Conditions for Supporting Rouhani in the Elections

The Secretary-General of the Front of Followers of the Line of Imam and Leadership announced that this conservative group has an "important condition" for supporting Hassan Rouhani in the upcoming presidential elections, which is the government's success in economic matters. According to the news website Khabaronline, Mohammad Reza Bahonar on Tuesday, July 21, asked the media not to create an election atmosphere and stated that the Islamic Society of Engineers and the Front of Followers of the Line of Imam and Leadership have been discussing the upcoming presidential elections since December. Regarding the possibility of conservatives supporting Hassan Rouhani, he said: "We have an important condition for whether we support Mr. Rouhani or not. We need to see how the government's performance is in the coming months." He also emphasized that "our condition for supporting the 11th government is the government's performance in the remaining months and whether it can achieve successes in economic matters during this time." The Front of Followers of the Line of Imam and Leadership is an alliance of 17 conservative political groups, the most well-known of which are the Islamic Society of Engineers and the Islamic Coalition Party. Mr. Bahonar, who is the Secretary-General of the Islamic Society of Engineers, was elected as the head of this front in 2013 after the death of Habibollah Asgaroladi, the former head of the Front of Followers of the Line of Imam and Leadership. This group supported Ali Akbar Velayati in the 2013 presidential elections. In recent months, some conservative media have announced that Hassan Rouhani's presidency will be limited to one term. Meanwhile, Iranian media have mentioned Saeed Jalili, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Gholamali Haddad Adel, Ezzatollah Zarghami, and Ahmad Tavakoli as potential rivals for Mr. Rouhani in the 2017 presidential elections. Hessameddin Ashna, an advisor to Hassan Rouhani, published a text on his Twitter in June that some websites linked to the potential candidacy of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC, in the 2017 presidential elections. Mr. Ashna wrote: "Let Haj Qassem remain at the legendary peak of defending the sanctity and shrine; let us not drag him into the campaign like Mohsen and Baqer with the key and pliers." The advisor to the Iranian president later wrote on Twitter that the previous post was "a heartfelt expression resulting from being moved by Qassem Soleimani's heavenly speech" and "a compassionate concern" about Mohsen Rezaei and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf. Meanwhile, reports have emerged about the possibility of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad running in next year's presidential elections. In contrast, Akbar Turkan, a senior advisor to Hassan Rouhani, referred to Mr. Ahmadinejad as "a burnt pawn," and Ali Motahari, a representative from Tehran, stated that he should be "tried before running." Meanwhile, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, in response to a question about conservatives' support for Mr. Ahmadinejad, said, "Is Mr. Ahmadinejad even going to run?" He also commented on the possibility of supporting Saeed Jalili, saying: "Conservative candidates are respected as long as they reach a consensus in intra-party competition. We also honor Mr. Jalili in this regard, but the possibility of introducing a new candidate by conservatives is not ruled out." He emphasized that Saeed Jalili and other potential conservative candidates "will be considered." Saeed Jalili was supported by the Steadfast Front and some figures close to the Supreme Leader in the 2013 presidential elections.