First Televised Interviews of Iran’s Presidential Candidates

Four of the six candidates for Iran’s June 28 presidential election recently took the opportunity to address voters on television. Former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili gave the public a confusing flow of words, and reformist former Health Minister Masoud Pezeshkian’s remarks were a lecture on management theory. Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Qalibaf emphasized his track record, criticized other candidates’ lack of executive experience, including Jalili, who he did not mention by name, and promised to improve the economic conditions of the average Iranian. Parliamentarian Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi’s focus was the fight against “economic corruption,” which can be interpreted as an indirect attack against Qalibaf.

• June 11: Centrist Iranian Students’ News Agency released a summary of Jalili’s televised address broadcast on the Voice and Vision of the Islamic Republic June 11. Jalili criticized unnamed rivals for “having too many political priorities, which means they have no real political priority,” but he failed to mention what his own priorities are, with the exception of the need for “budget discipline,” which he appeared to confuse with proper management of oil and gas resources.
• June 11: Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps mouthpiece Mashregh News released footage of the first televised interviews of three qualified presidential candidates, which were broadcast by the Voice and Vision of the Islamic Republic June 10:
  • Qalibaf, who chose to be interviewed by an anchor, took part in a 45-minute conversation:
    • On his own track record and qualifications, Qalibaf said: “We started from scratch, in the lowest positions as front volunteers during the sacred defense,” referencing the Iran-Iraq War … “Our country was invaded, and we volunteered from different corners of Iran. We didn’t know each other and had limited knowledge of military affairs. We learned due to the necessities of the time … That is how we learned management … and before the forces became organized, it was the fighters themselves who elected their commanders based on merit … Then, I served as a commander.”
    • Asked about his managerial skills, Qalibaf talked about his 12-year tenure as the mayor of Tehran and his tenure as IRGC Aerospace Force chief, under which Iran’s missile program expanded: “We reached out to talented young people at the universities and recruited brilliant minds who were not even members of the armed forces … They transformed Iran into one of the largest missile powers in the world.” Looking back at his tenure as Law Enforcement Forces chief, Qalibaf said: “One must follow with the times, and I did so by attracting young talents to the force and by utilizing modern technology.” In an implicit criticism of the morality police’s role in the killing of Mahsa Amini, Qalibaf emphasized that as Law Enforcement Forces chief, rather than increasing the presence of the police on the street, he managed to “gain the trust of the people, so they would report crime instead of us using precious human resources patrolling the streets and causing problems, which I do not want to discuss further here.”
    • Regarding political priorities, Qalibaf said: “There must be short-term initiatives to improve the economic conditions of the people … and we must also attend to water shortage issues in different places of the country.” However, Qalibaf also said economic development is the solution to solving Iran’s problems: “The only lasting solution to our problems is economic development. We simply need to increase the size of the cake of Iran’s economy.”
    • In an indirect criticism of Jalili, Qalibaf criticized “people with no track record of executive responsibility … Their slogans are meaningless … The dear people watching us on television should think about our track records. Someone may deliver a well-received speech every once in a while, but what is their track record?”
  • Pezeshkian’s first television appearance since being qualified by the Guardian Council was an interview broadcast on Channel One. Pezeshkian delivered a lecture on modern management that was likely incomprehensible to most viewers.
  • Hashemi’s address was a 20-minute speech in which he pledged to “continue the path of President Ebrahim Raisi”:
    • In an indirect attack against Qalibaf, Hashemi criticized the system’s “tolerance toward economic corruption” and “those who reach high offices through money, their parentage, and networks.” He also criticized the concentration of wealth in Tehran and pledged to spend government money in the periphery regions of Iran.
    • Hashemi promised to organize elections for different levels of government administration, similar to how villagers elect the village head, instead of the central government appointing local officials.
    • Turning to economic activities in society, he said: “There is no need to have state-owned businesses and companies, not even in the field of oil and gas. All companies must be owned by the people, and the people must benefit from the profits of those companies.” He also carefully criticized the presence of “foreign workers in Iran,” who take “employment opportunities away from our youth.”

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