Iran Today: The Real Debate in the Presidential Election --- Who is the Supreme Leader's Candidate?

Press TV portrays "Presidential hopefuls" and the economy

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1135 GMT:Your Friday Prayers Update. Taking to the podium today, Hojjat al-Islam Kazem Sadiqi declared that there are three red lines for the upcoming presidential elections.

The first red line is that everybody - including candidates, as well as their supporters and election slogans - must be within the law; in Sadiqi’s own words: “Nobody is above the law.”

The second is the need for harmony and unity during the election.

Sadiqi stated that "over the past 34 years most of the elections in our country have been harmonious" and that the “sedition” following the 2009 election was a new development.

Furthermore, candidates need to express unity because otherwise they are acting as traitors to the Iranian nation and the "blood of the martyrs.”

Sadiqi’s final red line is the imperative of ensuring morality and velayat – that is to say, the rule of the Supreme Leader.

1048 GMT:Ahmadinejad Watch (Davood Edition). The President’s brother, Davood Ahmadinejad, has made a number of highly critical comments about the so-called “deviant current” within the government.

Davood Ahmadinejad accused the “deviant current,” notably led by his brother and Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, of holding the “flag of fitna” (the “sedition” of the opposition that resulted from the disputed 2009 election) and being a Zionist element.

His remarks also included comparing the “deviant current” activities to those of the Taliban, suggesting they were pious, despotic and criminal all at the same time and declaring that they want to reinstall the monarchy.

1005 GMT:Economy and Elections Watch. Former Minister of Housing and Development, and presidential hopeful, Mohammad Saeedikia has downplayed the impact of western sanctions because of Iran’s international economic links.

Saeedikia declared “The Islamic Republic enjoys capacities for broad economic and political cooperation with foreign countries particularly its neighbors. By taking advantage of these capacities and expanding trade and economic ties, we can also strengthen political ties.”

0953 GMT:Elections Watch. The Ministry of Intelligence has summoned media chiefs to warn them not to be negative in their coverage of the presidential election.

They were also told to avoid any criticism of the Supreme Leader, although Ahmadinejad is considered a fair target.

0932 GMT:Ahmadinejad Watch. The President has made a thinly-veiled accusation that Mostafa Pourmomohammadi took 26 billion Tomans from the Ministry of Interior and has failed to return it.

Although Ahmadinejad did not name his former Minister of Interior, who has since become a leading critic of the president, the allegations are clearly directed at Pourmomohammadi.

It is the second time in two weeks that Ahmadinejad has attacked Pourmomohammadi.

0858 GMT:Nuclear Watch. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi added his voice to those stating that Tehran is in favour of continued talks of its nuclear programme.

Ali Baqeri, deputy secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said yesterday “We are waiting for [European Union foreign policy chief] Lady [Catherine] Ashton to call [Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator] Dr. [Saeed] Jalili, and Dr. Jalili is obviously ready to take the call.”

The Real Debate in the Presidential Election

State outlet Press TV declares, "'Iran Presidential Hopefuls Offer Views on Economy", highlighting "a meeting with university scholars" by three politicians --- .leading MP Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel of the Supreme Leader's "2+1 Committee" seeking a unity candidate; Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mohammad-Hassan Aboutorabifard of the principlist "Commitee of 5", which includes four prospective candidates; and former Minister of Health Kamran Bagheri Lankarani of the "hard-line" Endurance Front.

The article itself --- despite the portrayal of a substantive discussion --- is not that interesting. Abutorabifard's declaration, "Government’s current expenditures have doubled. We must cut it back," and Lankarani's criticism of "mismanagement of resources" are as far as it goes on the economy.

Instead, it is the dynamics behind the article that point to the real and continuing debate. Beyond some obvious framing --- no reformist hopeful, no place for former head of the Revolutionary Guards, Mohsen Rezaei --- confusion remains over which "Presidential hopeful" was actually speaking.

Press TV gives Haddad-Adel that label, but he said explicitly --- to the audience and to the broadcaster --- that the 2+1 Committee is still seeking its choice, less than two weeks before candidates have to formally declare their intention to stand. 

Haddad-Adel's anodyne statement that the Committee has “set up three working groups for economy and infrastructure, foreign policy, and science and culture" --- the same announcement he made last month --- cannot hide that vacuum.