Azerbaijan, Baku, May 30 / Trend, T. Jafarov /
The reason for the critical situation in Iran over the past eight years is that the country is under the control of the Conservatives, Iranian presidential candidate Mohammad-Reza Aref said during his speech on television, Fars news agency reported today.
Aref promised to stop insulting the country's previous presidents, including Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mohammad Khatami, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani if he were to come to power.
According to the report, the opposition candidate criticised a 'dangerous situation' existing in the country. He said that he was taking part in the elections because of concerns about Iran's integrity and the values for which it is struggling.
The candidate said that if he is elected president, all the conditions will be created in the country to ensure the rights of Iran's all ethnic groups and national minorities.
"If I become president, I will appoint a deputy for ethnic groups and national minorities in order to take a more active approach to their problems," Aref said.
Aref, who served as the first deputy during the presidency of Mohammad Khatami (the leader of the reformist camp) expressed his satisfaction with the fact that as a representative of the reformist camp, the conditions were created for his speech on TV for the first time during four years.
He added that, most likely, the Conservatives have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to govern the country without the reformists.
During his speech, Aref also promised that the necessary measures will be taken to bring the inflation rate in the country less than 10 percent and the economic situation in Iran will be improved.
"If I become president, I will annually create one million new jobs, increase the rate of Iran's economic development up to 8 percent, accelerate the processes to stabilize the foreign exchange rate and work on the privatization," Aref said.
The representative of the reformist camp also said that he will increase the amount of foreign investments in the country.
As for the tension around Iran's nuclear programme, Aref said that there are political solutions to the problem. This issue must be resolved by political means.