...

Khatami not yet decided on run in Iran election, close aide says

Iran Materials 20 January 2009 12:44 (UTC +04:00)

A close aid of former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami said Tuesday that the moderate cleric has not yet decided to run in June's presidential election and might not do so until mid-February, dpa reported.

Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, a former vice president under Khatami, told the ISNA news agency that either Khatami or former prime minister Mir-Hossein Moussavi would be the top candidate of the reformists in the election.

The Fars news agency had on Monday reported that Khatami had officially proclaimed his nomination for the June 12 election after a meeting of leading reformist activists in Tehran and would challenge President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Fars also said Khatami would probably choose Moussavi as his vice presidential candidate.

Reformists said they believe that the Khatami-Moussavi duo would have good chances to replace Ahmadinejad, who is currently facing criticism for having failed to implement his economic reforms.

Latest

Latest