Iran begins registration period for presidential candidates

Tehran: Iran on Tuesday began a five-day registration period for candidates in a June 14 presidential election, with a string of conservative hopefuls in the running but key reformists yet to come forward, reports said.
The process of screening candidates is entrusted to the Guardians Council, an unelected body controlled by religious conservatives appointed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all key issues. The council is set to announce the names of those who have been cleared to stand no later than May 23. Many conservative hopefuls have expressed readiness to run in the election.
Those calls echo similar ones to Khatami’s moderate conservative predecessor, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Last week, Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi implicitly warned both ex-presidents over their alleged role in the protest movement that followed the disputed.