What is Iran’s Assembly of Experts?

Victory for either side will do little to change conditions on the ground for the people of Iran, but a significant power shift in either body-particularly the Assembly of Experts, with its mandate to select the next Supreme Leader-and the heightened infighting may create crucial opportunity for the Iranian people and thus have a decisive impact on the future of Iran.

“This country should not turn into a market for the consumer goods of alien forces”.

The call included a rare public appearance for Khatami, who is still subject to an official media ban – in the form of a YouTube and Telegram video in which the 72-year-old theologian and two-time president cited Rohani’s election win in 2013 as a prelude to a “second step”.

While it’s true that Iran has a theocratic regime where rights are severely restricted, there are genuine political divides within the country. He has been encouraging others to cast their ballots for an alliance of reformists and moderate candidates in order to block hard-liners and help “institutionalize the culture of voting” in Iran, where a Western-backed monarch ruled until the revolution that brought Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and other clerics to power almost three decades ago. So while the Times suggests that optimistic reformists are setting “careful goals for the coming vote”, the surrounding context still highlights the lack of real alternatives in Iranian elections.

In particular, these elections will be more important in determining the future path of development Iran chooses and how economic reform will be undertaken by the Rouhani administration. Rouhani is also included in the Combatant Clergy Association’s List.

Also in 1986, he was appointed as interim Friday prayers leader of Iran’s Qazvin city and has remained in the post since then.

Tavakoli was born in March 1951 and is a conservative representative from Tehran in the Iranian parliament and former director of the Majlis Research Center.

On Sunday, Khatami urged his followers to vote for the reformist and moderate camp, which has picked “Hope” as its campaign slogan.

The “British list” allegations prompted a sharp reaction from Iranian President Hassan Rohani, a self-proclaimed moderate, who said the intelligence of Iranian voters should not be insulted. Moreover, critics of the government are anxious.

Partisans of hardline conservative former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have been excluded from the list.

He has been head of Tehran’s Chamber of Commerce since 2009.

After the ceremony, Rouhani and Aliyev acknowledged their similar views on most of the issues pertaining to the global and regional affairs as well as those of bilateral ties.

He considers oil-free economies as the strategic solution to Iran’s economic problems, saying that “For years, we’ve deliberated implementing an oil-free economy in the country, but so far we have failed in reaching this important target”.

More than 12 thousand candidates registered to run for the parliamentary election, but more than half were disqualified – mainly because they’re seen as reformists.

Iran’s Parliament will be capable of dismissing cabinet ministers through no-confidence votes and impeaching the president in case of misconduct in office.

Coming six weeks after global sanctions on Iran were lifted, President Hassan Rouhani wants to build his support in parliament, now dominated by more conservative lawmakers. Its role is to pass legislation, including approving the budget and global treaties.