Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a conservative, submitted his candidacy on Monday for the early presidential elections scheduled for June 28.
Originally set for 2025, the elections were moved up following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi on May 19. Raisi and seven others, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, died in a helicopter crash in northern Iran.
Ghalibaf, like all other candidates, will need to wait until June 11 to see if the 12-member Guardian Council, dominated by conservatives, approves his candidacy.
This marks Ghalibaf’s fourth presidential run, having previously campaigned in 2005, 2013, and 2017. In his last attempt, he withdrew in favor of Raisi, who finished second to former President Hassan Rouhani.
Ghalibaf, 62, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ Air Force, was elected Speaker of the new Iranian Parliament on May 28, having held the same position in the previous parliament. He served as Mayor of Tehran from 2005 to 2017 and was previously the head of Iran’s police forces.
In his statement after filing his candidacy, Ghalibaf emphasized the importance of continuing efforts to solve Iran’s economic problems, asserting that he would not have entered the race if he did not believe in the possibility of resolving Iran’s economic and social issues.
Other notable candidates who have submitted their candidacies include former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, former moderate Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, and Saeed Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator.
