Rouhani's Strong Attack on the Past Performance and Election Promises of Raisi and Qalibaf

The President of Iran, who is a candidate in the 96 elections, visited Kermanshah on Tuesday, May 18, and delivered a sharp speech attacking the past performance and promises of Ebrahim Raisi and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the conservative candidates. According to Iranian news agencies, Hassan Rouhani, who was present at the 5,000-seat 'Imam Khomeini' stadium in the city, asked his electoral rivals, 'Why don't you tell the young people what you really think, and why don't you say the things you say in private meetings out loud?' He added, 'Some are worried about the progress of Iran and the freedom of young people,' addressing the two main conservative candidates, saying, 'Why don't you tell the youth that you see them as a threat to the country, not an opportunity? You want Iran to remain under siege and to cut off the connection of Iranian youth with the world.' In part of his remarks, which seemed to refer to Ebrahim Raisi, the former Deputy of the Judiciary, he said, 'They say we want to fight corruption. I ask you, we have been in power for four years, but during the 38 years that you were supposed to supervise, did you stop corruption?' Raisi has served in various judicial positions in Iran for 36 years, including Attorney General, Prosecutor of the Special Clerical Court, and Deputy Chief Justice. He has been appointed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, as the custodian of the Astan Quds Razavi for over a year. On the same Tuesday morning, Rouhani also spoke at an election meeting in Hamadan, making similar remarks directed at Raisi, stating, 'The people of Iran declare that they do not accept those who have only known executions and imprisonment for 38 years.' Raisi played a direct role in the widespread execution of political opponents of the Islamic Republic in the 1980s and was a member of the decision-making committee for the executions of that decade, especially in 1988. Mostafa Pourmohammadi, the Minister of Justice in Rouhani's government, was another member of this committee. Shirin Ebadi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, previously stated that the human rights records of all the approved candidates for the Iranian presidential election are 'negative and unacceptable.' In another part of his speech in Kermanshah, Rouhani said, 'The people want to understand where the 3.8 billion dollars of the Iranian nation has gone. Those who go to the podium and want to report to the people, their question is who allowed this 3.8 billion to go?' This high-ranking executive's reference was to the case of Babak Zanjani, an Iranian businessman currently in custody, accused of embezzling this amount due to not returning oil money during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency. The eleventh government has repeatedly called for the judiciary to announce who supported Babak Zanjani and who signed to allow oil shipments to be given to him. Criticism of Qalibaf and the 'astronomical properties' Rouhani also attacked his other rival, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who is involved in the case known as 'astronomical properties' in the Tehran municipality. Several members of the Tehran City Council and Iranian media accused the Tehran municipality in the summer of 1995 of 'violating' over 2 trillion tomans in selling its properties at more than 50% discounts to city council members, municipal managers, some reporters from state media, and the judiciary's housing cooperative. The publication of reports in this regard led to the arrest of Yashar Soltani, the editor of the Architour News website. The Tehran prosecutor announced in December 1995 that dozens had been summoned and interrogated in this regard, but no report has yet been published about the final outcome of this case and Qalibaf's role in it. In his remarks on Tuesday, Rouhani referred to this case, saying, 'A person published the letter of the General Inspection Office regarding the astronomical properties on his site, and for that, why did you take him to solitary confinement?' He added, 'We raised the issue of our astronomical salaries and returned it to the public treasury, but what did you do about the astronomical properties? Why doesn't the judiciary, which is responsible for this, inform the people about the astronomical properties? We want to vote for justice and the fight against corruption on May 29.' The President of Iran also criticized Qalibaf's campaign slogan of defending the '96 percent majority' against the 'four percent minority,' calling his government a 'one hundred percent government.' Rouhani stated, 'We will not allow you to fragment the people because we are a one hundred percent nation. The eleventh government was a one hundred percent government, and the twelfth government is also a one hundred percent government. The people will not allow you to deceive them.' Attack on promises to increase subsidies and create millions of jobs Since the beginning of the presidential election campaign in Iran, Ebrahim Raisi and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf have stated in their campaign programs that they will triple the current subsidy amount from 45,600 tomans to 150,000 tomans. These two candidates have also promised to create four to five million jobs within the next four years. Hassan Rouhani criticized this part of his conservative rivals' campaign, accusing them of 'distributing money.' He asked them, 'Where will you get this money from? Will you reduce teachers' salaries? Will you reduce nurses' salaries? Will you reduce retirees' salaries? Will you cut farmers' wheat payments? Oh! Sorry, I made a mistake; you have another pocket, you want to take money from the Central Bank again. Once, the people of Iran experienced that 45 trillion tomans were taken from the Central Bank, resulting in 45% inflation in Iran. You want to bring the single-digit inflation that these hardworking people achieved in four years back to 45% inflation.' The President of Iran also accused the conservative candidates of wanting 'to send women back home. You want to isolate women. You want to isolate ethnic groups. The Iranian nation will not allow it; the constitution will not allow it.' Rouhani also referred to the media ban on figures like Mohammad Khatami, the former president, in Iranian media, stating, 'The people want the bans to end. On what basis do you prohibit the images of people and the great figures of society? By what law do you do this? Announce that law, that article. You claimed the National Security Council did this; I clearly said it is a lie, it is a lie.' The spokesperson for the Iranian judiciary has repeatedly stated that the Supreme National Security Council, which is under Rouhani's supervision, imposed this ban, but both the President and the spokesperson of the eleventh government have held the judiciary responsible in this regard.