| Iran's former conservative foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, now a top adviser to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has announced he will compete in the presidential elections scheduled for mid-2005, the student news agency ISNA reported yesterday. "I believe it is my duty to enter the electoral competition and the voters can evaluate each candidate's capabilities", Velayati said. "Well-known figures will be competing in the next election and there is no room for the unknown," he added. Late in November, Velayati had said he was "completely ready to run for presidency though (his) candidacy is not finalized yet." Velayati headed the country's diplomacy from 1981 to 1997. He now advises Khamenei on international affairs and is a member of the Expediency Council, the Islamic Republic's top arbitration body. |