Fact-Checking the Second Debate Between Jalili and Behzadian; Numerous 'Incorrect' and 'Misleading' Claims from Both Sides

The website 'Fact-Nameh' announced after analyzing the claims made by the two remaining government rivals for succeeding Ebrahim Raisi in the debate on Tuesday night, July 2, that the claims examined were mostly 'incorrect' or 'misleading.' The website assessed Saeed Jalili's claim about the economic growth being 'negative, zero, and an average of seven-tenths percent for the country' during Hassan Rouhani's eight years in office as 'incorrect,' stating: 'In the years 1397 and 1398, the Iranian economy had negative growth, and the economic growth in the year 1394 was also zero, but the average economic growth for this eight-year period is not as Jalili claimed, seven-tenths percent.' The website also marked Jalili's claim in the debate that 'Raisi's government transformed foreign investment' as 'incorrect,' emphasizing that he relied on 'ambiguous data and approved investments,' claiming a record-breaking foreign investment in the country during the thirteenth government. According to valid international statistics (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), the highest record of direct foreign investment in recent years in Iran was registered in 2016 and 2017 during the JCPOA. The report stated that Saeed Jalili claimed through charts that the growth rate of liquidity in Ebrahim Raisi's government has significantly decreased compared to Rouhani's government, which is a 'misleading' claim; because the charts Jalili presented were limited to the last three years of Rouhani's administration, where the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA and the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the economic crisis. However, if we examine liquidity growth over longer periods, we will see that the liquidity growth rate in most years before 1399 was lower than during Raisi's term. According to the Fact-Nameh website, Masoud Behzadian also made an 'incorrect' claim in the second debate of the second round of government candidates for the presidency, stating: 'I have not previously said that cash subsidies have crushed the economy.' While he had previously stated in a gathering of students at Qom University of Medical Sciences on May 9, 1396, that: 'The 45,000 tomans given as subsidies to the people have crushed the economy of the country. The result is that someone decided to act against the law, and there is no doubt about that.' Masoud Behzadian also said in the debate on the night of July 2: 'Those who attacked the embassies are in Jalili's campaign headquarters,' which was marked as 'partially correct.' Based on Fact-Nameh's review, the list and details of the individuals who attacked the British and Saudi embassies are not exactly clear, but some individuals, like Hossein Kordmihan and Gholamreza Qasemi, who were publicly mentioned and confirmed during the attack on the Saudi embassy, have supported Saeed Jalili in the elections, but it is not exactly clear if these individuals hold any position in Jalili's campaign headquarters. In another part of the debate, Masoud Behzadian emphasized the incorrectness of the 60% inflation rate claimed by Saeed Jalili related to Hassan Rouhani's government, holding another chart that showed inflation rates were high during sanctions and low during agreements. The Fact-Nameh website also fact-checked this claim as 'misleading' and stated: 'First, Jalili's claim pertains to monthly inflation, but Behzadian's chart only shows annual inflation. Second, the chart presented was actually prepared to explain and compare inflation during the JCPOA and sanctions, but in this chart, the years 1393 and 1394 are also counted as years of sanctions. Third, the publication of charts where the years of agreement and sanctions are swapped has previously been a pattern in Masoud Behzadian's electoral campaign.' The competition for the vacant seat left by Ebrahim Raisi is ongoing between Masoud Behzadian and Saeed Jalili from seemingly different government factions, while the ruling establishment is trying to encourage people to participate more in the polls on July 5. However, opposition to participation in the 'government voting' for Raisi's succession has grown, and opponents consider Jalili and Behzadian as 'the Islamic Republic itself.'