Iran’s hard-line parliament speaker emerges as the theocracy’s top figure in the presidential vote

By JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s hard-line parliament speaker has registered for the country’s June 28 presidential election. Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf is the most-prominent candidate from within its Shiite theocracy in the race to replace the late Ebrahim Raisi after a helicopter crash that killed him and seven others. Monday’s entry of Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf brings a candidate with close ties to the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard into a race that saw the absence of other prominent figures. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei even gave a speech earlier Monday alluding to qualities that Qalibaf himself has highlighted, potentially signaling his support for the former Tehran mayor.