ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The incumbent President of Iran Hassan Rouhani has told a rally of his supporters that Iranian voters have binary options of peace or tension as they head to the polls on Friday to elect the country’s next president.
"This Friday our nation will announce whether it wants to continue the path of peacefulness or path of tension,” Rouhani said on Saturday.
President Rouhani has repeatedly said that his rival candidates want to scrap Iran’s landmark nuclear deal with western powers, an achievement the Iranian president had called one of his most significant achievements during his term in office.
All other five candidates, including the frontrunner Ebrahim Raisi, a conservative leader who is said to have close ties with the Supreme Leader, has said they are committed to the deal.
The deal helped lift economic sanctions imposed on Iran that crippled its economy for years.
"We will not let Iran become isolated once again” he said as the crowd cheered in response, “ we would like to have constructive and effective interaction with the world."
Addressing thousands of supporters in Tehran's Azadi stadium, some of whom holding photos of the former presidential candidate Mir-Hussein Mousavi who is under house arrest since the contested 2009 elections, and others holding photos of the two-time former President Mohammed Khatami, the president said that his government has tried hard to stand up against pressure exercised against his government.
Rouhani's supporters carry flags and wear green for Mousavi's campaign color, and purple, Rouhani's campaign color. Photo: AFP photo/Atta Kenare
The Iranian media is barred from publishing photos of Khatami, or mention his name because of his support to the Green Movement leader Mousavi in 2009 after the then contested results of the election.
He said that he wrote a letter to the head of the judiciary asking “him for what reason and under what law” Khatami is subject to a media ban.
He also said that his government stood up to pressure that wanted to shut down social networks.
The social network of Telegram is very popular in the country as Iranians have limited or no access to other popular social networks such as Facebook or Twitter without bypassing the country’s sophisticated filter walls.
"Over the last three years and half, the government stood up to those who exerted pressure on it to shut down social networks,” Rouhani said.
The former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from 2005 to 2013 was declared winner of the presidential elections in 2009, while his main rival Mir-Hossein Mousavi, contested the result.
Mousavi, a moderate leader and former prime minister, along with Mahdi Karroubi, another candidate in the 2009 election, have remained under house arrest since the 2009 contested elections which resulted in widespread protests on the streets of Iranian cities, notably in Tehran.
The authorities were able to put an end to the protests after a brutal crackdown, killing tens of people, and wide arrests.
According to the rights organization, Amnesty International, the opposition leaders, Mousavi and Karroubi, along with Mousavi’s wife Zahra Rahnavard, are still being held under house arrest without an arrest warrant, charge or trial.
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