Iran uses Maariv’s article to bash the presidential candidate

Iran’s presidential elections: The reformist Iranian media are using an opinion column published in “Maariv” by Danny Sitranovich in which it is written that the candidate Jalili is good for Israel. Iranian sources said that Pazkhian’s supporters promote and distribute the opinion column in order to harm Jalili’s chances of winning among the religious community and among potential voters.

Earlier, Iran’s presidential candidates accused each other of not solving the country’s problems ahead of Friday’s repeat elections aimed at choosing a successor to the late president Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed last month in a helicopter crash.

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During a more than two-hour debate on public television, reformist candidate Massoud Pazkhian attacked his opponent, Saeed Jalili, a former nuclear negotiator and the conservative candidate, for his lack of experience, saying: “Tell me, what single company have you ever run that makes you capable of running the country?’

Jalili, known as the “living martyr” after losing a leg in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and famous among Western diplomats for his preachy speeches and tough positions, defended himself while emphasizing his career and the various positions he held, including the position of senior nuclear negotiator.

Pazkhian continued to question his opponent about what plans he would have for achieving a nuclear agreement, with Jalili answering that he would approach it “from a position of strength and not weakness”, without providing details.

Jalili accused Pazkhian of lacking plans for running the country, saying his presidency would set the country back, as it was under the relatively moderate former president Hassan Rouhani (2013-2021). Rouhani signed a nuclear deal with world powers that limited Iran’s uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief, but later in 2018, President Trump pulled the United States out of the landmark deal and abruptly reinstated tough sanctions on Iran.

Jalili said that “with the support of the people,” Iran would achieve economic growth of 8% a year, a promise that Pazkhian scoffed at, saying that the authorities should be allowed to “execute him” if he failed to keep it. Iran must implement a “dynamic foreign policy” if it wants a successful economy, Jalili said, adding that it should not be limited to those countries with which it has a problem in relation to the US and the Western world. Rather, it should improve the countries with which it has a diplomatic relationship. Pazkhian He said that his foreign policy will be based on cooperation with the world that will include negotiations to remove the sanctions.

Both parties promised to address the problems of the country’s poor, workers, women, ethnic groups and religious minorities, and pledged to provide better and faster internet – an appeal to the younger generation who showed apathy during Friday’s vote.

Pazkhian and Jalili also said the low turnout in the first round – the lowest turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic – should be investigated. “It is unacceptable that about 60 percent (of the voters) did not vote,” Pazkhian said. The candidates will participate in another debate tonight (Tuesday).