Former Speaker of Parliament, Ali Larijani, announced his candidacy for the presidential elections in Iran, today, Friday, after his name returned to the forefront, as one of the most famous Iranian presidential candidates, following the announcement of Raisi’s death.
For many years, Larijani was one of the trusted figures of the Iranian leader, Ali Khamenei. Who is Larijani, what is his history, and what point does he aspire to reach in his political career?
Questions are raised about the reason for his candidacy at this stage. Does he really aspire to the presidency or does he just want to mix the cards with the other players?
At the beginning of his political career, Larijani served as head of the governing body of the Jihad Organization affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, since its founding. He studied mathematics and computer sciences, and also took philosophy lessons from Ahmed Farid. Both reformists and fundamentalists were hostile to him, and he was also rejected from running in the previous presidential elections. By the Guardian Council.
All these contradictions in the record of a political figure raise many question marks, but Ali Larijani was able to continue in political life, carrying with him this heavy burden of political contradictions and paradoxes.
Where did Larijani come from and where does he want to go?
Ali Ardeshir Larijani, known as “Ali Larijani,” was born in the Iraqi city of Najaf in 1957. He is the son-in-law of the prominent Iranian cleric, Morteza Motahhari.
Larijani grew up in the city of Qom, and graduated from Sharif Industrial University, majoring in mathematics and computer science.
Larijani held the position of head of Radio and Television during the era of Khamenei’s government, which was the first important position he held during the era of the Islamic Republic regime. He then served as editor-in-chief of Kayhan newspaper, the most famous Iranian newspaper and the mouthpiece of the ruling regime.
Larijani became a member of the IRGC in 1982, and until 1992, then assistant and deputy chief of the General Staff of the IRGC.
Nominated in 1992 by former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani; To occupy the position of the Ministry of Culture and Guidance, succeeding Mohammad Khatami, who resigned from the position, but the problem is that Larijani had no background in this field other than that he held the position of head of television for a short period of time on the recommendation of his father-in-law, Morteza Motahhari.
He remained in the position of the Ministry of Culture and Guidance until 1993, and his most important achievement was allowing the use of video and photography mechanisms, after it had previously been prohibited.
Khamenei appointed Larijani as head of radio and television again in 1993, a position that Larijani held for many years.
Larijani remained in the position of head of television until 2004, after which he moved to assume the position of Khamenei’s representative in the Supreme National Security Council for a period of 5 years.
Larijani ran for president in 2005, but won only less than 6 percent of the votes.
The new Iranian president at the time, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, appointed him head of the Supreme National Security Council in 2005, succeeding Hassan Rouhani (who assumed the Iranian presidency from Ahmadinejad).
Larijani remained head of the Supreme National Security Council until 2007, only to resign after less than two years due to disagreements between him and the former Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Larijani’s successor as head of the National Security Council, Saeed Jalili, is also one of the leading candidates for the upcoming presidential elections in Iran.
Larijani won three terms in the Iranian Parliament, between 2008 and 2020, from the city of Qom, all of which he spent as Speaker of Parliament.
The nuclear agreement was signed during his presidency of the Iranian Parliament, in 2015, which is the longest period spent by a person in the position of Speaker of Parliament in the history of the Islamic Republic.
Ali Larijani ran for the position of Speaker of Parliament in 2021, but the Larijani family went through a period of extreme weakness at that stage. Those close to his brothers were arrested, especially in what was known as the corruption case of Akbar Tabari, an assistant to Ali Larijani’s brother, Sadiq Larijani, who was head of the judiciary at the time.
When the regime identified the person of Ibrahim Raisi, at that stage; To be the most likely candidate for the Iranian presidency, the Guardian Council eliminated all prominent candidates, leaving the field vacant for Raisi, which was actually achieved, and Raisi won the position.
At that point, Ali Larijani’s brother, Sadeq Larijani, was a member of the Guardian Council, who refused to recommend Larijani to run against Raisi, an incident that appears to have been the reason for Sadeq Larijani’s “dissatisfaction” and subsequent resignation from the council.
Ali Larijani entered into a verbal battle with the Guardian Council; In protest against the decision not to recommend him, the council members close to Khamenei demanded that the reasons for the rejection be stated in written and detailed form.
Larijani’s return to the political scene
Larijani’s tenure as head of radio and television witnessed attacks directed against the reformists by the media establishment, but Larijani moved towards the reformists and began to approach them since the events of 2009, which followed protests against the election results, in which the regime was accused of rigging in favor of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. .
Only one hour after Larijani announced his candidacy, sources close to former President Mohammad Khatami, the most prominent reformist figure and Larijani’s spiritual leader, announced that he would not support him in these elections.
Other reformist figures announced their lack of support for Larijani and preferred other figures who were more loyal and affiliated with the reformist movement.
Larijani has also become undesirable by the fundamentalists, and they will not support him in the upcoming elections. So why did Larijani announce his candidacy, in light of this reality, and after the Guardian Council refused to recommend him in the previous presidential elections?
The reason for his candidacy may be what was announced by the “Iran Wire” website, a week ago, that some personalities, such as Ali Shamkhani, Mohammad Baqir Qalibaf, and Ali Larijani, were nominated for one reason, which is to prevent Saeed Jalili from reaching the presidency.
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