Ebrahim Raisi: We Thought Rouhani Would Limit His Destruction and Accusations

The main representative of the principlists in the twelfth presidential election stated in an interview that he had thought Hassan Rouhani would at least, due to his clerical attire, "limit his destruction and accusations" during the elections, but his calculations were disrupted. Ebrahim Raisi, in an interview with some CEOs of Iranian news agencies, which was published by Tasnim News Agency on Tuesday, July 20, said, "I truly did not anticipate this level of destruction and fear-mongering among the people," and then referring to Hassan Rouhani, added, "Because I thought, firstly, the competitor is someone who wears the clothes of religion and clericalism and at least would maintain some limits in this regard; not that he wouldn’t do anything, but he would go forward to a certain extent." The custodian of the Astan Quds Razavi stated that his calculation was that the President of Iran, "has had responsibilities since the beginning of the revolution, therefore at least he would maintain the sanctity of the system and the ethical principles of the election; thirdly, he is now the president and will uphold the dignity of the presidency; well, in the elections, especially in the last ten days, all three of our calculations fell apart." Ebrahim Raisi received more than 15 million votes in the twelfth presidential election, but during the competition, he repeatedly accused Hassan Rouhani's government of committing "engineered violations" in the elections and criticized his rhetoric. Mr. Rouhani, in his speeches, severely attacked the background of this principlist candidate and stated on May 18, "The people of Iran declare that they do not accept those who have only known executions and prisons for 38 years." The Iranian president's reference was to Ebrahim Raisi's background, who has held judicial positions since the early years of the 1979 revolution, including Attorney General and Deputy Chief of the Judiciary. Mr. Rouhani also emphasized a day earlier in Urmia in remarks directed at the principlist candidates in the elections, "Over the past years, what you issued was the word prohibition; prohibition of pen and prohibition of image. Please do not talk about freedom, as freedom is ashamed. Do not talk about criticism when you work in an institution that no one dares to criticize even once." Ebrahim Raisi, who accused Hassan Rouhani of "aggression" during the heat of the presidential elections, again attacked him in his recent interview, saying: "The political culture of officials has changed so much that, like the West, they form psychological operation committees to gain power, planning to spread maximum lies and bizarre accusations, and then when they succeed, they not only feel no guilt but applaud themselves and say we succeeded. This indicates a political culture in decline." He accused the eleventh government of failing to "prove the efficiency of its ideas and actions in the execution arena over several years" and stated that it relied on "media and psychological operations," "because scaring people about the rival does not require much time and can be achieved in a few days. You saw this clearly in the recent elections." Mr. Raisi did not provide a clear answer to the question, "If the rival had not done these things, would people have voted for you?" but stated, "These events occurred in the elections and were very effective. The rival created such an atmosphere of fear and terror with an unprecedented set of destructive propaganda that our voice did not reach part of society." The criticisms of the custodian of the Astan Quds Razavi come at a time when Hassan Rouhani received 23 million and 500 thousand votes in the twelfth presidential election. The two main candidates of this election, who claimed that the other used state and public resources for their electoral propaganda, have filed complaints with the Guardian Council and the judiciary. The Guardian Council announced the referral of Ebrahim Raisi's complaint and the electoral violations of some government officials to the judiciary, and on the other hand, on Tuesday, news was published about the summons and indictment of four governors of the eleventh government due to the elections. Majid Ansari, the legal deputy of the Iranian president, also reported on filing complaints against military, police institutions, some media, and Friday prayer leaders for interfering in the elections. In this regard, Rouhani's government has also filed complaints about the "electoral violations" of military forces and Friday prayer leaders. Four governors in Iran have been indicted for "electoral violations." Rouhani's unprecedented criticisms of the institutions under the leadership in the Mashhad gathering. Khamenei: In the electoral discussions, words were said that were not worthy of the nation. 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