Campaigning officially started on Friday for Iran‘s May presidential election, pitting pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani against hardliners just as the United States reassesses its policy on the Islamic Republic.

A hardline watchdog body in charge of vetting candidates and laws, the Guardian Council, approved six candidates on Thursday for the May 19 vote – including Rouhani – but hardline former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was disqualified.

A witness who was near Ahmadinejad’s house in eastern Tehran on Thursday night told Reuters that “around 50 police officers had blocked two ends of the street to his house to prevent possible gathering of his supporters”.

Iranian police fanned out across Tehran’s main squares overnight after the names of the candidates were announced, according to videos posted on social media.

Ahmadinejad, an adversary of the West during his time on power, surprised Iran‘s clerical establishment by registering as a candidate, defying Iran‘s top authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s warning not to enter the race.

His re-election in 2009 ignited an eight-month firestorm of street protests. His pro-reform rivals said the vote was rigged.

Supporters of the six successful candidates had started campaigning on social media last week. Iran blocks access to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube but millions of Iranians use virtual private networks (VPNs) to access those sites.

Iran‘s top leaders regard the election in part as a show of defiance against renewed US pressure under President Donald Trump, and have called for a high turnout to strengthen the clerical establishment’s legitimacy.

“The election is a very difficult and important test for all of us … a high turnout will show to the world that the establishment enjoys the strong backing and support of its people,” Tehran Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Mohammadali Movahedi-Kermani told worshippers, state TV reported.

Rouhani won a landslide victory in 2013 on a platform of ending Iran‘s diplomatic isolation and reviving the country’s crippling sanction-hit economy.

On April 4, the US Senate has delayed a bill to slap new sanctions on Iran due to concerns about the election.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson accused Iran of “alarming ongoing provocations” to destabilise countries in the Middle East.

“A comprehensive Iran policy requires we address all of the threats posed by Iran and it is clear there are many,” he said.

Rouhani engineered Iran‘s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that secured removal of most of international sanctions against Tehran. But hardliners say he has failed to boost the economy despite lifting of sanctions last year.

Analysts say the biggest challenge to Rouhani – himself endorsed by moderates and prominent conservatives, including parliament speaker Ali Larijani – is influential mid-ranking cleric Ebrahim Raisi, who is close to Khamenei.

The four other candidates are Iran‘s first Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, former conservative culture minister Mostafa Mirsalim, former pro-reform vice president Mostafa Hashemitaba and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.</s>BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and hardline rival Ebrahim Raisi were both approved to run in May’s presidential election by a government vetting body, while former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was disqualified, state media reported on Thursday.

FILE PHOTO: Iranian senior cleric Ebrahim Raisis gestures as he meets grand clerics in the holy city of Qom, Iran, in this handout photo believed to be taken in April 2016. Tasnim News Agency/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

The approval of Rouhani, a moderate, and Raisi, a political hardliner thought to have the backing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sets up a showdown between rival political camps.

Four other candidates were also qualified to run. Among them are Rouhani’s vice president, Eshaq Jahangiri, and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.

Khamenei had advised Ahmadinejad not to run, and his attempt to become a candidate was widely seen as a public snub to the Supreme Leader, which is nearly unheard of in the Islamic Republic.

The disqualification of Ahmadinejad, a two-term president, draws attention to the criteria that the Guardian Council, the governmental body which vets candidates, uses in the selection process.

Khamenei appoints half of the members of the Guardian Council, and by disqualifying Ahmadinejad, the body runs the risk of being seen as a rubber stamp for the Supreme Leader, who is the highest authority in the country.

Rouhani and Raisi will likely face off over the economy as well as the nuclear deal signed with Western powers, which Rouhani has highlighted as his signature achievement during the past four years in office.

Iran agreed to curb portions of its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of several sanctions as part of the deal.

Political hardliners see the deal as a form of capitulation and are wary of the opening it presents for Western companies to work in the Islamic Republic.

In recent days, Raisi, who was appointed by Khamenei as the head of a multi-billion-dollar religious foundation last year, has repeatedly blasted Rouhani’s economic performance.

Khamenei has also criticized Rouhani’s economic performance in recent speeches and called on the government to do more to address the issue of unemployment.

About 3.2 million Iranian are jobless out of a total population of 80 million.

Rouhani has claimed that inflation has decreased and the economy has grown on his watch. He has also said in recent public appearances that the judiciary and security forces should be more mindful of ordinary Iranians’ rights and privacy, which is likely to appeal to his supporters.

Rouhani was elected in 2013 with a promise to bring about greater individual freedom and detente with the West. Some of his supporters say he has fallen short of those goals.

Regardless of how the rivalry between Rouhani and Raisi plays out, top Iranian officials, including Khamenei, have said they will confront any individuals or groups who attempt to destabilize the country.

Iranian police fanned out across Tehran after the names of the candidates were announced on Thursday night, according to the news site of the Iranian judiciary Mizan Online.

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Live debates between presidential candidates, a feature in the last two presidential elections, have also been called off, according to state media. Pre-taped interviews will air instead, perhaps to keep candidates from stoking up their supporters.

Widespread protests broke out and continued for months after the disputed election of Ahmadinejad in 2009, and led to dozens of deaths and hundreds of arrests.

“The bitter incidents of (2009) will not be repeated,” Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said on Wednesday, according to state media.</s>TEHERAN, Iran (AFP) - President Hassan Rouhani was among six candidates approved on Thursday (April 20) by Iran's conservative-dominated Guardian Council to run in next month's election while former leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was barred, state media reported.

The other candidates selected were hardliners Ebrahim Raisi and Mostafa Mirsalim, Teheran mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, veteran politician Mostafa Hashemitaba and Rouhani's ally and vice-president Eshaq Jahangiri.

Former hardline president Ahmadinejad, who ruled from 2005 to 2013, was barred along with his close ally Hamid Baghaie.

Ahmadinejad shocked everyone by registering as a candidate last week against the advice of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - a move which many described as political suicide.

More than 1,600 candidates registered to run in the May 19 election, but the Guardian Council only ever selects around half a dozen.

More than 130 women registered but none has ever been allowed to stand.

Although campaigning was not due to start until April 28, the Guardian Council announced that it could begin immediately.

Rouhani, a politically moderate cleric, has won praise since his landslide win in 2013 for taming inflation and reaching a groundbreaking nuclear deal with world powers that ended many sanctions.

But disappointment over Iran's continued economic stagnation is palpable on the streets, creating an opening for conservative opponents, with judicial cleric Raisi considered by many to be their frontrunner.

Unemployment is stuck at 12 per cent, the promised billions in foreign investment have not materialised, and Rouhani has failed to release political prisoners, including reformist leaders under house arrest for their part in 2009 protests.

The aggressive stance of US President Donald Trump, who has slapped new sanctions on Iran and threatened to tear up the nuclear deal, has bolstered conservative claims that Rouhani was duped by the West.

The conservatives are more divided, but Raisi has garnered considerable momentum.

The 56-year-old judge, who currently runs the powerful charity-cum-business-empire Astan Qods Razavi, has emphasised his concern for the poor and is seen as a close ally of - and possible successor to - supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Teheran mayor Ghalibaf, who came second to Rouhani in 2013, is also considered a front-runner.

The 55-year-old is a war veteran, former Revolutionary Guards commander and police chief, and considered a staunch conservative.

He has focused his early comments on the economy, saying he would create five million jobs and more than double Iran's revenues, although such promises have been ridiculed as wildly unrealistic by reformist opponents.

Mirsalim has been a central figure in the mainstream conservative movement for years, but has not seen much of the spotlight during this election season.

Hashemitaba is a veteran politician, having served variously as an industry minister, vice-president and head of physical education through several administrations since the 1980s, though he has barely figured in local coverage of the election so far.

Rouhani has been hit by the loss of a key backer in recent months: heavyweight former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who passed away in January, played a central role in his surprising landslide victory in 2013.

But crucially, Rouhani retains the unified support of moderates and reformists, who still see him as the best hope for change within the strict parameters of Iran's Islamic system.

Jahangiri said he was only standing in the election to support Rouhani during the campaign and in TV debates, saying last week that he stood "side-by-side" with the president.

Iran's interior ministry said Thursday there would be no live debates in the run-up to next month's vote.</s>BEIRUT, April 20 (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and hardline rival Ebrahim Raisi were both approved to run in May's presidential election by a government vetting body, while former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was disqualified, state media reported on Thursday.

The approval of Rouhani, a moderate, and Raisi, a political hardliner thought to have the backing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sets up a showdown between rival political camps.

Four other candidates were also qualified to run. Among them are Rouhani's vice president, Eshaq Jahangiri, and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.

Khamenei had advised Ahmadinejad not to run, and his attempt to become a candidate was widely seen as a public snub to the Supreme Leader, which is nearly unheard of in the Islamic Republic.

The disqualification of Ahmadinejad, a two-term president, draws attention to the criteria that the Guardian Council, the governmental body which vets candidates, uses in the selection process.

Khamenei appoints half of the members of the Guardian Council, and by disqualifying Ahmadinejad, the body runs the risk of being seen as a rubber stamp for the Supreme Leader, who is the highest authority in the country.

Rouhani and Raisi will likely face off over the economy as well as the nuclear deal signed with Western powers, which Rouhani has highlighted as his signature achievement during the past four years in office.

Iran agreed to curb portions of its nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of several sanctions as part of the deal.

Political hardliners see the deal as a form of capitulation and are wary of the opening it presents for Western companies to work in the Islamic Republic.

In recent days, Raisi, who was appointed by Khamenei as the head of a multi-billion-dollar religious foundation last year, has repeatedly blasted Rouhani's economic performance.

Khamenei has also criticized Rouhani's economic performance in recent speeches and called on the government to do more to address the issue of unemployment.

About 3.2 million Iranian are jobless out of a total population of 80 million.

Rouhani has claimed that inflation has decreased and the economy has grown on his watch. He has also said in recent public appearances that the judiciary and security forces should be more mindful of ordinary Iranians' rights and privacy, which is likely to appeal to his supporters.

Rouhani was elected in 2013 with a promise to bring about greater individual freedom and detente with the West. Some of his supporters say he has fallen short of those goals.

Regardless of how the rivalry between Rouhani and Raisi plays out, top Iranian officials, including Khamenei, have said they will confront any individuals or groups who attempt to destabilize the country.

Iranian police fanned out across Tehran after the names of the candidates were announced on Thursday night, according to the news site of the Iranian judiciary Mizan Online.

Live debates between presidential candidates, a feature in the last two presidential elections, have also been called off, according to state media. Pre-taped interviews will air instead, perhaps to keep candidates from stoking up their supporters.

Widespread protests broke out and continued for months after the disputed election of Ahmadinejad in 2009, and led to dozens of deaths and hundreds of arrests.

"The bitter incidents of (2009) will not be repeated," Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said on Wednesday, according to state media. (Reporting By Babak Dehghanpisheh; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Leslie Adler)</s>Iran has announced the final list of candidates for next month's presidential race, which will largely serve as a referendum on the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

President Hassan Rouhani is widely seen as the front-runner, but could face tough competition from hard-line cleric Ebrahim Raisi, who is close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and popular among hard-liners. Former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sought to run but was disqualified.

The following candidates were approved by the Guardian Council, which vets candidates for Iran's elections. Half of its 12 members are clerics appointed by Khamenei, who also makes all final decisions on major policies.

Rouhani, 68, is a moderate elected in 2013 on pledges of greater personal freedoms and improved relations with the West. His government negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal, which saw Iran accept curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for relief from crippling international sanctions.

Since the deal went into effect, Iran has doubled its oil exports and inked multi-billion-dollar aircraft deals with Boeing and Airbus. But critics of the deal say the economic benefits have yet to filter down to ordinary Iranians, creating an opening for Rouhani's hard-line rivals.

Early in his tenure, in 2013, he shared a phone call with then-President Barack Obama, the highest-level exchange between the two countries since Iran's 1979 revolution and the U.S. Embassy hostage crisis.

Rouhani has faced pushback from conservatives and hard-liners, who criticized the nuclear deal as giving too much away and who have blocked many of his Cabinet picks.

Raisi, 56, is a hard-line cleric close to Khamenei who has vowed to combat poverty and corruption. He could pose the biggest challenge to Rouhani, especially if he can unify hard-liners.

Last year, Khamenei appointed Raisi as head of the Imam Reza charity foundation, which manages a vast conglomerate of businesses and endowments in Iran. Khamenei called Raisi a "trustworthy and highly experienced" person, causing many to wonder if he might also be a possible successor to the supreme leader himself.

Raisi, who is currently a law professor, previously served as attorney general and deputy judiciary chief. He is a member of the Assembly of Experts, a clerical body that will decide Khamenei's successor, and a prosecutor at a special court that tries clerics.

Jahangiri, 60, is a first vice president in Rouhani's government and a fellow moderate.

He was the minister of industries and mines from 1997 to 2005, under reformist President Mohammad Khatami, and before that served as governor of Isfahan Province.

He was close to the late and influential President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, as well as Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard's Quds Force. Soleimani has played a key role in Iran's efforts to bolster President Bashar Assad's forces in Syria and help neighboring Iraq combat the Islamic State group.

Hashemitaba, who served as minister of industry in the 1980s, is a pro-reform figure who previously ran for president in 2001.

Both Jahangiri and Hashemitaba are expected to promote Rouhani. Their candidacies appear to be aimed at providing balance in the face of three hard-line and conservative candidates.

Qalibaf, 55, the conservative mayor of Tehran, is running for president for the third time, having previously lost to Ahmadinejad in 2005 and Rouhani in 2013.

His candidacy could be marred by January's massive fire at the Plasco building, a historic high-rise in downtown Tehran. The fire caused the building to collapse and killed 26 people, including 16 firefighters.

Qalibaf was Iran's chief of police from 2000 to 2005 and commander of the Revolutionary Guard's air force from 1997 to 2000. He is also a pilot, certified to fly certain Airbus passenger planes.

Mirsalim, 69, was shot and wounded during the unrest leading up to the 1979 revolution. He went on to serve as deputy interior minister and police chief. He was the minister of culture for four years under Rafsanjani, a centrist who was president from 1989 to 1997.</s>An Iranian panel charged with vetting candidates approved the country’s incumbent president and five challengers but disqualified former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from running in next month’s presidential election, state television reported Thursday.

The decision by the Guardian Council means that President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, will face off against a field that includes two prominent hard-liners: Ebrahim Raisi, who is considered close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.

The Guardian Council, a cleric-dominated body that vets candidates, said it had compiled a final list of candidates earlier Thursday and that the Interior Ministry would announce their names by Sunday.

The panel controls elections and must approve all laws passed by parliament. It has never allowed a woman to run for president and routinely rejects political dissidents and others calling for dramatic reform.

Other presidential candidates who made the cut, according to an Interior Ministry statement carried by state TV, include moderate Senior Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri, former conservative culture minister Mostafa Mirsalim, and former pro-reform vice-president Mostafa Hashemitaba.

Ahmadinejad, who remains a deeply polarizing figure even among Iranian hard-liners, had shocked the country by registering last week. Khamenei had previously urged him not to run.

Ahmadinejad was president from 2005 to 2013, and was best known abroad for his incendiary rhetoric toward Israel, his questioning of the scale of the Holocaust and his efforts to ramp up Iran’s nuclear program.

He said upon registering that he was doing so to support his former Vice-President Hamid Baghaei, who also failed to receive approval to run.

“He was an unwanted guest in the election,” Tehran-based political analyst Soroush Farhadi said of Ahmadinejad’s disqualification. He predicted the former president would nonetheless remain politically active during the campaign to create a “quasi-opposition face for himself” for the future.

Ali Akbar Javanfekr, a close ally of Ahmadinejad, downplayed the two candidates’ exclusion, saying on social media that Ahmadinejad and Baghaei had only registered out of “national, religious and revolutionary duty.”

“Thank god, the Guardian Council removed the duty from their shoulders,” he wrote.

More than 1,600 people registered to run for the May 19 election.

Under Iran’s clerically overseen system, the president is subordinate to Khamenei, who is Iran’s top decision-maker and has the final say on all matters of state. Khamenei appoints half the Guardian Council’s members.

Rouhani, 68, is hoping voters will deliver him a second term to see out his promises of greater personal freedoms at home and openness to the wider world as he works to turn around Iran’s sagging economy — a top priority for many voters.

The election will be in many ways a referendum on his administration’s negotiation of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. That agreement gave Iran relief from crippling economic sanctions in exchange for limits to its nuclear program, but has been assailed by hard-liners who believe Iran gave too much away in exchange for too little.

While reliable polling information is not widely available, most political observers see Rouhani as the current front-runner even though he has been unable to significantly turn around Iran’s slumping economy. Every incumbent since Khamenei himself took the presidency in 1981 has won re-election.

Rouhani, though no radical, has the support of many reform-minded Iranians. Khamenei himself also might favour a second term for Rouhani despite his closeness to more hard-line candidates.

“Iranian presidents tend to become much weaker in their second terms, with a key cause being their greater susceptibility to control by the supreme leader and his institutions,” Mehdi Khalaji, an Iran expert at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, wrote this week. “This helps explain Khamenei’s possible abstention from active support for the hard-line candidates.”

Rouhani’s toughest challenge could come from Raisi, 56, a hard-line cleric and professor of Islamic law who has promised to fight poverty and corruption if he’s elected. Many hard-liners have rallied around Raisi, who got a boost last year when Khamenei appointed him head of an Islamic charity that holds extensive business interests in Iran.

He has held several judiciary positions, including serving as attorney general from 2014 to 2016, and is mentioned as a possible successor for Khamenei himself.</s>President Hassan Rouhani was among six candidates approved Thursday by Iran's conservative-dominated Guardian Council to run in next month's election while former leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was barred, state media reported.

The other candidates selected were hardliners Ebrahim Raisi and Mostafa Mirsalim, Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, veteran politician Mostafa Hashemitaba and Rouhani's ally and vice-president Eshaq Jahangiri.

Former hardline president Ahmadinejad, who ruled from 2005 to 2013, was barred along with his close ally Hamid Baghaie.

Ahmadinejad shocked everyone by registering as a candidate last week against the advice of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei -- a move which many described as political suicide.

More than 1,600 candidates registered to run in the May 19 election, but the Guardian Council only ever selects around half a dozen.

More than 130 women registered but none has ever been allowed to stand.

Although campaigning was not due to start until April 28, the Guardian Council announced that it could begin immediately.

Rouhani, a politically moderate cleric, has won praise since his landslide win in 2013 for taming inflation and reaching a groundbreaking nuclear deal with world powers that ended many sanctions.

But disappointment over Iran's continued economic stagnation is palpable on the streets, creating an opening for conservative opponents, with judicial cleric Raisi considered by many to be their frontrunner.

Unemployment is stuck at 12 percent, the promised billions in foreign investment have not materialised, and Rouhani has failed to release political prisoners, including reformist leaders under house arrest for their part in 2009 protests.

The aggressive stance of US President Donald Trump, who has slapped new sanctions on Iran and threatened to tear up the nuclear deal, has bolstered conservative claims that Rouhani was duped by the West.

The conservatives are more divided, but Raisi has garnered considerable momentum.

The 56-year-old judge, who currently runs the powerful charity-cum-business-empire Astan Qods Razavi, has emphasised his concern for the poor and is seen as a close ally of -- and possible successor to -- supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Tehran mayor Ghalibaf, who came second to Rouhani in 2013, is also considered a front-runner.

The 55-year-old is a war veteran, former Revolutionary Guards commander and police chief, and considered a staunch conservative.

He has focused his early comments on the economy, saying he would create five million jobs and more than double Iran's revenues, although such promises have been ridiculed as wildly unrealistic by reformist opponents.

Mirsalim has been a central figure in the mainstream conservative movement for years, but has not seen much of the spotlight during this election season.

Hashemitaba is a veteran politician, having served variously as an industry minister, vice-president and head of physical education through several administrations since the 1980s, though he has barely figured in local coverage of the election so far.

Rouhani has been hit by the loss of a key backer in recent months: heavyweight former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who passed away in January, played a central role in his surprising landslide victory in 2013.

But crucially, Rouhani retains the unified support of moderates and reformists, who still see him as the best hope for change within the strict parameters of Iran's Islamic system.

Jahangiri said he was only standing in the election to support Rouhani during the campaign and in TV debates, saying last week that he stood "side-by-side" with the president.

Iran's interior ministry said Thursday there would be no live debates in the run-up to next month's vote.</s>TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was barred from running in next month’s election Thursday while President Hassan Rouhani was among six candidates approved by Iran’s conservative-controlled Guardian Council, state media reported.

The other candidates selected were hardliners Ebrahim Raisi and Mostafa Mirsalim, Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, moderate Mostafa Hashemitaba and Rouhani’s ally and vice-president Eshaq Jahangiri.

Former hardline president Ahmadinejad, who ruled from 2005 to 2013, was barred along with his close ally Hamid Baghaie.

Ahmadinejad shocked everyone by registering as a candidate last week against the advice of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — a move which many described as political suicide.

More than 1,600 candidates registered to run in the May 19 election, but the Guardian Council only ever selects around half a dozen.

More than 130 women registered but none has ever been allowed to stand.

“In Iran, it’s not only an election, it’s also a selection,” said Clement Therme, Iran research fellow for the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Although campaigning was not due to start until April 28, the Guardian Council announced that it could begin immediately.

Rouhani, a politically moderate cleric, has won praise since his landslide win in 2013 for taming inflation and reaching a groundbreaking nuclear deal with world powers that ended many sanctions.

But disappointment over Iran’s continued economic stagnation is palpable on the streets, creating an opening for conservative opponents.

Unemployment is stuck at 12 percent, the promised billions in foreign investment have not materialised, and Rouhani has failed to release political prisoners, including reformist leaders under house arrest for their part in 2009 protests.

“The problem has been the nature of Rouhani’s economic agenda. His administration has a discourse of social justice but they are ultimately neoliberal, and this has provoked disappointment,” said Therme.

The aggressive stance of US President Donald Trump, who has slapped new sanctions on Iran and threatened to tear up the nuclear deal, has bolstered conservative claims that Rouhani’s outreach to the West has been misguided.

The conservatives are divided, but Raisi has garnered considerable momentum.

The 56-year-old judge, who currently runs the powerful charity-cum-business-empire Astan Qods Razavi, has emphasized his concern for the poor and is seen as a close ally of — and possible successor to — supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Tehran mayor Ghalibaf, who came second to Rouhani in 2013, is also considered a front-runner.

The 55-year-old is a war veteran, former Revolutionary Guards commander and police chief, and considered a staunch if pragmatic conservative.

He has focused his early comments on the economy, saying he would create five million jobs and more than double Iran’s revenues, although such promises have been ridiculed as wildly unrealistic by reformist opponents.

Mirsalim, 71, was a culture minister in the early 1990s, known for dramatically increasing censorship and shutting down opposition newspapers. He belongs to one of the older conservative parties, the Islamic Coalition.

Hashemitaba, 71, has served variously as industry minister, vice-president and head of Iran’s National Olympic Committee through several administrations since the revolution, though he has figured only marginally in local coverage of the election so far.

Rouhani has been hit by the loss of a key backer in recent months: heavyweight former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who passed away in January, played a central role in his surprising landslide victory in 2013.

Rafsanjani’s brother, Mohammad Hashemi, was also among those disqualified on Thursday.

But crucially, Rouhani retains the unified support of moderates and reformists, who still see him as the best hope for change within the strict parameters of Iran’s Islamic system.

Jahangiri said he was only standing in the election to support Rouhani during the campaign and in TV debates, saying last week that he stood “side-by-side” with the president.

Iran’s election commission ruled on Thursday that there would be no live debates in the run-up to the election — a feature that has been hugely popular since they were introduced in 2009. Debates will instead be pre-recorded.</s>Iran’s Guardian Council has gone through the 1,500 registered candidates for the upcoming presidential election and whittled it down to six candidates who can run. Obviously this includes incumbent President Hassan Rouhani, with his main challenges a pair of hardliners, former Attorney General Ebrahim Raisi and Tehran Mayor Bagher Qalibaf.

The other three candidates approved are Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, former Vice President Mostafa Hashemitaba, and former Culture Minister Mostafa Mirsalim. Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had also registered, was denied a spot.

Ahmadinejad was widely expected to be barred from running, as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had warned him against filing in the first place. Analysts saw the move as an attempt to try to force a compromise, in which his candidate of choice, Hamid Baghiae, would be approved.

That didn’t work, however, and Baghiae didn’t make the cut either, with the Guardian Council reportedly concerned by the embezzlement charges he’d faced in the past. The expectation is that the vote will basically come down to Rouhani and Raisi, with Raisi the favored candidate of Khamenei.
• US Seeks Saudi Assurances on Limiting Yemen Civilian Casualties Ahead of Arms Sales - April 20th, 2017</s>ANKARA, April 21 (Reuters) - Campaigning officially started on Friday for Iran's May presidential election, pitting pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani against hardliners just as the United States reassesses its policy on the Islamic Republic.

A hardline watchdog body in charge of vetting candidates and laws, the Guardian Council, approved six candidates on Thursday for the May 19 vote - including Rouhani - but hardline former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was disqualified.

A witness who was near Ahmadinejad's house in eastern Tehran on Thursday night told Reuters that "around 50 police officers had blocked two ends of the street to his house to prevent possible gathering of his supporters".

Iranian police fanned out across Tehran's main squares overnight after the names of the candidates were announced, according to videos posted on social media.

Ahmadinejad, an adversary of the West during his time on power, surprised Iran's clerical establishment by registering as a candidate, defying Iran's top authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's warning not to enter the race.

His re-election in 2009 ignited an eight-month firestorm of street protests. His pro-reform rivals said the vote was rigged.

Supporters of the six successful candidates had started campaigning on social media last week. Iran blocks access to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube but millions of Iranians use virtual private networks (VPNs) to access those sites.

Iran's top leaders regard the election in part as a show of defiance against renewed U.S. pressure under President Donald Trump, and have called for a high turnout to strengthen the clerical establishment's legitimacy.

"The election is a very difficult and important test for all of us ... a high turnout will show to the world that the establishment enjoys the strong backing and support of its people," Tehran Friday prayer leader Ayatollah Mohammadali Movahedi-Kermani told worshippers, state TV reported.

Rouhani won a landslide victory in 2013 on a platform of ending Iran's diplomatic isolation and reviving the country's crippling sanction-hit economy.

On April 4, the U.S. Senate has delayed a bill to slap new sanctions on Iran due to concerns about the election.

On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson accused Iran of "alarming ongoing provocations" to destabilise countries in the Middle East.

"A comprehensive Iran policy requires we address all of the threats posed by Iran and it is clear there are many," he said.

Rouhani engineered Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that secured removal of most of international sanctions against Tehran. But hardliners say he has failed to boost the economy despite lifting of sanctions last year.

Analysts say the biggest challenge to Rouhani - himself endorsed by moderates and prominent conservatives, including parliament speaker Ali Larijani - is influential mid-ranking cleric Ebrahim Raisi, who is close to Khamenei.

The four other candidates are Iran's first Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri, former conservative culture minister Mostafa Mirsalim, former pro-reform vice president Mostafa Hashemitaba and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. (Additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Louise Ireland)
Guardian Council announces names of six final candidates. Incumbent President Hassan Rouhani, chairman of Astan Quds Razavi Ebrahim Raisi and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is among the list. More than 1,600 nominees were disqualified, including all 137 female candidates and former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.