Candidates' Campaigns; Challenges of Detained Journalists and Expelled Professors, and Defense of Proxy Forces

The most newsworthy part of the televised programs of candidates for the 14th presidential election on Thursday, June 14, was Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf's reaction to the arrest of two journalists coinciding with the start of his campaign activities. The Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly faced questions from journalist Hossein Entezami about the arrest of Yashar Soltani and Saba Azarpayek, who are said to have been imprisoned following a complaint by Qalibaf. Yashar Soltani is known for exposing 'violations' by Qalibaf during his tenure as the mayor of Tehran, while Saba Azarpayek, a journalist, was sentenced to two years in prison for 'publishing falsehoods' and an additional year for 'threatening.' The news of Azarpayek's miscarriage, as reported by her husband, which was her second pregnancy that ended after her arrest, created a widespread uproar on social media and sparked significant criticism against Qalibaf. Entezami specifically asked Qalibaf: 'Two media activists were arrested exactly on the day your campaign started. However, it is said that this was due to your complaint, which was later denied. I will not delve into this, but the question is what have you done as the Speaker of the Parliament for the release of these two individuals?' In response, the Speaker stated that Soltani and Azarpayek have a 'private' complainant and their cases have been raised in initial and appellate courts and the Supreme Court. The candidate for the 14th presidential election told Entezami: 'If you want me to request from an individual or individuals in the private sector to forgive these individuals, I will follow that. However, when they have a private complainant, the rights of the people and individuals must also be respected. There was also a time when someone made a statement and the media presented a false issue; I did not complain against that individual.' Vahid Ishtari, a government-supporting media activist but a member of the 'Justice-Seeking Movement' on X network, wrote that besides Qalibaf himself, there are two other private complainants in Soltani's case, 'one is the son-in-law of Mr. Mohsen Rezaei, and the other is the son-in-law of Mr. Shamkhani.' He also accused the former mayor of Tehran of 'lying' and published a picture of Qalibaf's complaint against himself. Ali Mojtahedzadeh, a lawyer, also did not find Qalibaf's claim that he had not complained against any journalist 'honest' and reported for the umpteenth time his awareness of cases formed against several journalists by Qalibaf's complaint. Although it seems that the issue of complaints against exposing journalists and their arrests has become Qalibaf's Achilles' heel in this election, this was not the only angle from which the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly faced criticism in the Thursday television program. In response to another question about the virtual space, Qalibaf spoke so ambiguously and unclearly that Entezami told him he did not understand his words and did not know if he would lift the filtering if he became president, given that most members of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace would be his managers. Entezami told Qalibaf that as the Speaker of the Parliament, Vice President of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, Vice President of the Supreme National Security Council, and Vice President of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, he has a different status compared to other candidates and is a 'partner' in imposing internet restrictions and filtering in Iran. He also asked Qalibaf to clearly state his position on the expulsion of university professors instead of talking about 'respect' for professors and to provide a clear opinion and specific timeframe regarding 'lifting censorship' on culture and arts and similar issues. Some of Qalibaf's supporters mentioned the selection of Hossein Entezami as an advisor to Ali Larijani, whose qualifications for the presidential election were rejected by the Guardian Council, and criticized that he diverted Qalibaf's statements with his questions. These supporters of Qalibaf also interpreted Entezami's selection as a kind of 'help' from Ali Larijani's team to Masoud Pezeshkian's team after the supporters of Larijani exited from the 'shock' following his disqualification. Meanwhile, other users on social media praised challenging Qalibaf's statements and wrote that the unprofessional remarks and claims and promises of candidates should be seriously challenged. Emphasis on Pezeshkian's call to eliminate 'spontaneous experts' and prevent international tensions. Among other televised programs that attracted attention, an economic roundtable can be mentioned, where Masoud Pezeshkian, a candidate from the reformist faction, participated. His statements in this program that 'if you put me in charge of the economy, I will certainly ruin it' received both negative and positive feedback on social media. Opponents accused him of being 'too small' for the presidency due to these remarks, while supporters wrote that this 'honest sentence,' unlike many candidates, reflects Pezeshkian's belief in using specialized and informed individuals in various fields. Pezeshkian pointed to the increase in government debt to banks, a significant rise in inflation rates, and the rising prices of food and essential goods, blaming this situation on the presence of 'a series of spontaneous experts' in the system who 'are not experts.' He said: 'No patient would look for a partisan doctor when they fall ill. We did not look for experts and put people in charge who were not qualified. It is clear that they cannot provide solutions. Foreign relations must be de-escalated, and we should not fight with everyone. The people sitting there did not know how to go and talk.' He also emphasized: 'If we want to solve the problem, we must change our behavior and outlook in regulations, implementation, supervision, international relations, and investments. We must seek experts and not our partisans. We are driving brains away.' He specifically criticized the creation of tensions and said: 'What was the necessity of destroying the Saudi Arabian embassy in that way? What was the necessity of destroying the British embassy and ruining our reputation?' This presidential candidate was accompanied in this program by Mohammad Hossein Hosseinzadeh Bahraini, a representative of previous parliaments, Yahya Al-Isaq, former Minister of Commerce, Davood Danesh-Jaafari, a member of the Expediency Council, and Ahmad Midari, Deputy Minister of Labor in the 11th government, and Hossein Abdeh Tabreezi, advisor to the Minister of Roads and Urban Development in the 10th and 11th governments. Some of these experts expressed opinions in the field of economics, including Davood Danesh-Jaafari, who referred to the overshadowing of the FATF issue on Iran's economy and the Islamic Republic's refusal to join the 'Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering.' During Hassan Rouhani's presidency, lengthy discussions in the cabinet were held to join the Islamic Republic to the FATF to avoid being placed on the blacklist of this group, but due to the strong opposition of the principlists dominating the parliament, this did not materialize. Some principlists explicitly expressed concern that Iran's accession to this treaty would limit the Islamic Republic's ability to support its allies in the region, referred to as 'the Islamic Republic's proxy forces.' Saeed Jalili continued his campaign trips on Thursday, first visiting Qom and then Arak. In a gathering of supporters of this principlist representative, all three representatives of Qom in the Islamic Consultative Assembly were present in support of this presidential candidate. He also visited Ayatollah Hossein Noori Hamadani, a religious authority, in Qom. In this ceremony, Jalili, in response to rumors of withdrawing in favor of other principlist candidates, said: 'We have not entered this path with doubt; we chose this path with insight and will continue with strength.' Jalili then went to Arak and, in a gathering of workers from the Hepco and Azarab companies, claimed that Ibrahim Raisi showed that the country can move forward with 'power,' stating: 'The martyr president did not keep the country waiting for agreements and conventions.' This presidential candidate also stated in a television program that 'the president must know the hierarchy and process of implementing orders, and one of the issues that greatly helps the president is to know where the work and orders issued will end up and who must implement them.' Mustafa PourMohammadi also spent a calm Thursday, and besides participating in a political roundtable on Iran's Channel 3 television and reposting a video and a post on social media, he did not have any other electoral activity. In the 'political roundtable' program on television, he emphasized the connection between nations to increase 'sphere of influence' and support for the Islamic Republic's proxy forces in the region, stating: 'Regarding proxy forces, it should be said that there are common interests, ideals, and goals, and these forces that strive for their goals and land have created peripheral solidarity for each other, which has added to our national security capability.' PourMohammadi also promised to lift filtering in a post on X network, stating: 'In the social sphere, the internet is a serious issue for me. Today, the internet is like water for life.' This presidential candidate, without referring to decisions in this area at levels above the authority of the president, added that he would try to 'end the issue of VPNs and filtering in the shortest time,' but did not explain his solutions for this issue. Alireza Zakani, the mayor of Tehran, also began his electoral travels on Thursday and headed to Qom. He, who had previously served as a representative of Qom in the 11th parliament, started his first electoral trip from Qom to pave his way to the presidential office. In this city, he stated that 'if the necessary incentives are given to repair unstable and worn-out fabrics, the people themselves with this wandering liquidity can build 10 million housing units instead of the government's promise of four million.' Zakani also claimed that 'the people chose that the path of martyr Raisi continues and do not intend to return to the 90s.' Zakani's reference is to the two terms of Hassan Rouhani's presidency in the 90s. Malek Shariati, the spokesperson for Zakani's campaign, also referred to rumors about the possibility of him withdrawing from the elections and denied this on his personal page on X network. Meanwhile, Zakani had stated in Qom: 'If a candidate considers another person more qualified based on the average indicators, he should not stay.' These remarks were interpreted as sending a 'signal' to other principlist candidates. Malek Shariati wrote in reference to these statements: 'With respect to others, as previously stated, such a condition has not been met, and therefore Dr. Zakani will remain in the competition until the end.' Zakani also criticized the managerial style of all previous governments before Raisi's government in a television program, describing it as 'management in a vacuum.' He stated about Raisi's unfinished government: 'If I say that these three years are better than the previous eight years, I am not saying anything wrong. Therefore, the direction of martyr Raisi should be maintained at the ballot boxes.' The praise for Ibrahim Raisi's government after his death in a helicopter crash has been widely and systematically promoted by the elements of the Islamic Republic and continues. Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, head of the Martyrs Foundation, also spent Thursday like other days with little news. He wrote in a message on X network: 'A significant burden of public transportation in the country is now on the shoulders of you dear internet taxi drivers, and without your efforts, the people cannot reach their destinations. In the family government, I will solve the insurance and gasoline quota problems for the large family of online transport platform activists.' Ghazizadeh Hashemi also committed to single-pricing inflation in his government based on the financial discipline of government operations. The 14th presidential election, which will be held early due to the untimely death of Ibrahim Raisi, has not yet managed to create enthusiasm in society, according to media activists and social media users. This election will take place on Saturday, July 8, 1403, and Mustafa PourMohammadi, Saeed Jalili, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Alireza Zakani, Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, and Masoud Pezeshkian will compete for the presidency.