Iran Today: Presidential Election --- Rouhani Ramps Up Campaign

Rouhani On The Campaign Trail

Moderate Presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani ramped up his campaign efforts on Tuesday, including contact with an English-speaking audience via social media.

Rouhani's campaign team put out a subtitled YouTube video of his question-and-answer session on State television, in which the former nuclear negotiator rebuffed allegations from Hassan Abedini, the host of Channel 2's interview series with Presidential candidates, that he had backed down in negotiations with the West and compromised Iran's nuclear program by suspending it.

Rouhani said that Iran had not suspended but completed the nuclear program, and went so far as to directly allege that IRIB had instructed Abedini to ask specific questions.

Following Jalili's example of using social media to disseminate photographs, Rouhani's campaign team have tweeted a number of images showing the former nuclear negotiator visiting the Iranian people, and stressing his family background a Persian carpet-weaver, an ordinary member of the working class.

Rouhani's campaign team also live-tweeted --- in English --- his appearance on State television.

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Mohsen Rezaei Launches "Wiki Rezaei"

Presidential candidate and former IRGC commander Mohsen Rezaei has launched "Wiki Rezaei", a "collective effort based on many months of planning" based on the Wikipedia system, that "distinguishes itself from the elite".

Rezaei announced the new site during a campaign trip to Tehran's Bazaar. The former IRGC chief also (literally) unveiled a new book about economics.

In line with the rest of Rezaei's campaign --- in which the Presidential candidate has portrayed himself as a man of the people --- the trip to the Bazaar was notable for its deliberate simplicity. As Rezaei walked through the Bazaar, supporters held up simple color photographs of the former IRGC chief.

Rezaei talked to the assembled crowd of Bazaaris about the economy.

Mohsen Rezaei's Website Censored During TV Appearance

The official campaign website of Presidential candidate and former Revolutionary Guards commander Mohsen Rezaei, rezaei.ir, was censored during his appearance on State television earlier this week, Radio Farda reports.

The Iran Media Project notes that the censored sections included parts of Rezaei’s conversation with an Iran-Iraq War veteran’s father about the pressures of poverty and unemployment in the country as well his comments on discrimination toward Iran's different provinces.

Mehr News reported that the President of IRIB had explained that the censorship happened because of "national security issues".

President of IRIB: Part of #Rezai’s speech removal was due to national security issues. #Iranelection

— Mehr News Agency (@MehrnewsCom) May 29, 2013

More Photos Of Aref On Tehran Campaign Trail

The Neconews.com website has published more photos of Presidential candidate Mohammad-Reza Aref on the campaign trail on the streets of Tehran today.

Aref appears to be focussing on grassroots-style campaigning, choosing to go on walkabout, meeting and chatting to ordinary Iranians around Tehran.

Portraits Of The Candidates As Young Men: "Youthful" Photo Trend

One curious trend that has emerged in the Presidential election campaign is the use of social media and the internet to disseminate photos of the candidates as young men, either by their campaign teams or by others.

As well as telling stories of the candidates' histories as politicians, soldiers, and as key figures in the history of the Islamic Republic, the photos are also intended to show their experience --- and perhaps to give the public a glimpse into their personalities.

Supreme National Security Council secretary Saeed Jalili started the trend, posting pictures of himself as a young soldier on his Google Plus and personal website, including this:

Former IRGC commander Rezaei shared this image of himself as a younger man:

This photograph of a young --- and rather trendy --- Mohammad-Reza Aref appeared on Twitter today:

Not to be left out, Hassan Rouhani's campaign team tweeted this image today of the Presidential candidate:

#Rouhani inspecting the #war front as deputy of Hashemi #Rafsanjani, then commander of the war efforts. #experience twitter.com/HassanRouhani/…

— Rouhani Campaign (@HassanRouhani) May 29, 2013

Rouhani Talks About House Arrest of Mousavi and Karroubi

Moderate Presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani's campaign team have published a short excerpt from a Q&A session Rouhani gave at the Sharif University of Technology on May 13, in which he discusses the house arrests of former Presidential candidates Mousavi and Karroubi.

In the video --- taken before the Guardian Council disqualified former President Hashemi Rafsanjani from the election --- the audience applauds as a student asks Rouhani what his plan would be regarding the house arrests of Mousavi and Karroubi.

Rouhani answers:

I believe that the next President of Iran… If I become the next President… but now that Mr Hashemi has registered, we have to wait and see… [applause, students chant 'Praise to Hashemi']… the next government, you see, continuing this split is not in our best interests…the gap, which is getting wider every day, should be eliminated. I believe the election itself could work to reduce the gaps, but I hope that the next government is able to bring about a non-securitized environment.

I don't think it will be difficult to bring about such condition in the next year, in which not only those who are under house arrest, but also those who have been detained after the 2009 elections will be released. [Applause, chants of "Rouhani, we love you".]

Rouhani also tweeted that people have a "natural right" to express themselves without fear of reprisals:

People have a natural #right to express themselves, including their #issues, without any concerns. #Rouhani2013 #hope #ruleoflaw

— Rouhani Campaign (@HassanRouhani) May 29, 2013

Presidential Election Watch: Jalili In Qom (Again)

Presidential candidate and Supreme National Security Council secretary Saeed Jalili has made a second trip to the holy city of Qom, where he met with hardline cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi.

Wearing a qaffieh, Jalili also addressed the crowds, some of whom held banners, including this one showing Jalili above an image of Iran's assassinated nuclear scientists, who are depicted as electrons orbiting an atom, the nucleus of which is the symbol of the Islamic Republic. A subatomic dove --- representing peace --- flies around the atom.

تصویر : دومین همایش سعید جلیلی در قم twitter.com/DrSaeedJalili/…

— Dr Saeed Jalili (@DrSaeedJalili) May 28, 2013

Presidential Election Watch: Supreme Leader Warns Candidates To Be "Accurate"

In a meeting with MPs on Wednesday, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Presidential candidates should be accurate and honest in their campaign pledges, and warned them not to try to badmouth other candidates in order to win votes.

http://farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=13920308000822

#Leader meeting MPs today: Candidates should make sure what they say is true, sincere and based on authentic information. #IranElection

— khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) May 29, 2013

Presidential Election Watch: Aref Edition

Presidential candidate Mohammad-Reza Aref is photographed campaigning on Valiasr Street in Tehran.

Photo: #Aaref interesting campaigning: On the streets and talking to people. #Iranelection 2013 #Iran twitter.com/Movahedifar/st…

— Ehsan Movahedifar (@Movahedifar) May 29, 2013

Aref, whose campaign slogan is livelihoods, decent and honest life with dignity and rationality also has a campaign website.

Tehran-based freelance reporter Ehsan Movahedifar tweeted this photograph of a much younger Aref:

Hopefule pres. #Aref during his youth. #Iranelection 2013 #Iran twitter.com/Movahedifar/st…

— Ehsan Movahedifar (@Movahedifar) May 29, 2013

Presidential Election Watch: IRGC Edition

Apparently in response to Mehr's report that Qods Force Commander Qassem Soleimani had expressed support for Presidential candidate Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, Sepah News, the IRGC's official PR site, quoted Brigadier General Ramazan Sharif, the head of the IRGC's PR unit, as saying that the Revolutionary Guards could not confirm speeches "attributed to some IRGC commanders".

Sharif also said that the Western media had ramped up its hostility in response to the upcoming Presidential election, but that the Iranian people had never been affected by the "imperialist and Zionist media".

Presidential Election Watch: "Qods Force Commander Expressed Support For Qalibaf"

The Friday Prayer leader in Kerman, Ayatollah Yahya Jafari, has said that he spoke with Qods Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, who expressed support for Presidential candidate and Tehran mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf.

Mehr News quoted Jafari --- who is also the Supreme Leader's representative in Kerman --- as saying that he spent an evening with Soleimani and asked him who he would vote for.

"Haj Qassem [Soleimani] said, Qalibaf; I also said that I'm voting for Qalibaf," Jafari was quoted as saying.

Mehr went on to quote Jafari as advising Qalibaf not to make false promises about fixing the economy. "One of the [candidates] said he planned to resolve economic problems within three months, and I'm sure people understand that this is a false promise," Jafari said. "There won't be a miracle within three months, but the problem should be dealt with gradually…..And as Imam Ali said, 'I'm not afraid of poverty, only bad counsel.' "