IRAN’S NEXT PRESIDENT WILL BE A HARDLINER: Ultraconservative cleric, Ebrahim Raisi, is likely to be the next president of Iran. Even if that is not the case, when Iranians go to the polls next month, someone else from the hardline faction within Iran’s opaque political system will emerge on top as the list of candidates released is full of right-wingers. To be clear, even during the term of the relatively moderate current President Hassan Rouhani, the real power in Tehran resided with the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. However, when a hardliner takes the reins of the presidency in Tehran, the executive branch will be in line with other state institutions, like the judiciary, the parliament and, most importantly, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. [COMMENT BY: Omar Shariff, International Editor]
AFP