Mouhaddi Kermani: It is unlikely that conservatives will support Rouhani or Ahmadinejad

Mohammad Ali Mouhaddi Kermani, the Secretary General of the Combatant Clergy Association, stated that conservatives will begin their activities in a month to assess their participation in the 2016 presidential elections, and it is unlikely that Hassan Rouhani or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be their supported candidates. The Tasnim News Agency published a brief interview with this conservative figure on Tuesday, August 2, in which it was emphasized that the Combatant Clergy Association has 'not discussed the elections at all until now' but will soon engage in discussions regarding the presidential elections. The Secretary General also mentioned that 'the revolutionary forces and conservative factions have serious and suitable options for competing in the 2016 elections.' The Combatant Clergy Association, alongside the Society of Teachers of Qom Seminary, is one of the two main organizations of conservative clerics, and in recent decades, conservatives have emphasized their participation in elections through these organizations. However, these two conservative organizations have supported different lists in cases such as the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections and the Assembly of Experts elections. For example, while the Combatant Clergy Association supported Hassan Rouhani in the recent Assembly of Experts elections in Tehran, the Society of Teachers did not include Rouhani's name in their list. In the continuation of his interview with Tasnim, Mouhaddi Kermani stated without further details that 'given the current conditions, it is very unlikely that we would want to support Mr. Rouhani.' Hassan Rouhani is an old member of the Combatant Clergy Association in Tehran, but this association did not support him in the 2013 presidential elections, and its members openly and covertly supported other conservative candidates. Meanwhile, Mouhaddi Kermani also mentioned that there has been no discussion about supporting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the upcoming elections, stating, 'We have not discussed it yet, but I do not think there will be any support for him either.' The remarks of the Secretary General of the Combatant Clergy Association come at a time when about a month ago, Hossein Ebrahimi, a senior member of this association, told the Entekhab website that it is possible for Hassan Rouhani's government to become 'one-term' in an event 'unprecedented in the history of the Islamic Republic.' He emphasized that the leadership of the Combatant Clergy Association and conservatives in the 2016 elections is in the hands of Mouhaddi Kermani, stating, 'If we are to introduce someone as a candidate from the conservative front, we will introduce one person.' Ebrahimi also mentioned that 'if the Guardian Council approves Mr. Ahmadinejad, I believe it will not create problems for Mr. Rouhani, but given the current atmosphere, if Rouhani does not make a move in his actions, anything is possible.' Warnings about the possibility of Hassan Rouhani's presidency being one-term have also been raised by Mohammad Reza Bahonar, a senior conservative figure, who recently told the Asr Iran website that he conditioned Rouhani's victory in the next elections on creating economic prosperity in the country. He predicted that if the next presidential elections are held in two rounds, Rouhani would 'lose' regardless of who competes against him. Bahonar had previously stated that conservatives have an 'important condition' for supporting Rouhani in the upcoming presidential elections, which is the success of the government in economic matters. Meanwhile, in recent days, Abbas Abdi, a reformist political activist, also mentioned in an interview with Etemad newspaper that Rouhani's rival in the 2016 elections is 'his performance, not Ahmadinejad or anyone else.' In addition to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, some media outlets have named Saeed Jalili, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, Ezzatollah Zarghami, and Ahmad Tavakoli as potential rivals for Rouhani in the 2016 presidential elections. Additionally, 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 2016 presidential elections. In this context, the 12th presidential election in Iran will be held on May 29, 2016.