[Guardian] Iran’s presidential election candidates have engaged in a fiery and bruising first television debate, during which one promised to put another, the former governor of the central bank, on trial for treason and ban him and other members of the government from leaving the country.Good. Let's you and him go fight.
The threat to put Abdolnaser Hemmati on trial was made on Saturday by the former leader of the Revolutionary Guards Mohsen Rezaei, currently secretary of the Expediency Council. He claimed the Iranian currency had been devalued so much by Hemmati that "the train of the revolution has turned into a scooter".
The new president will replace Hassan Rouhani, a pragmatist
Either the Twelfth Imam has appeared or he hasn't
who twice won landslide votes against hardline opponents after campaigning to open up Iran’s economy to the world. Rouhani had only limited success, after the US abandoned a nuclear agreement and reimposed sanctions.
So what did he do with all our cash?
The narrow focus on the state of the economy had the effect of putting Hemmati on the back foot as five conservative-inclined candidates ganged up on him to portray him as the incumbent and blame him for his stewardship, especially for high inflation and the collapse of the exchange rate.
Hemmati hit back by saying most of the other candidates were simply cover for Raisi and dared them to give an undertaking they would not pull out of the race before polling day. He said he was proud he had not allowed Iran to go the way of Venezuela, adding he was standing to prevent the country’s economy becoming the same as North Korea’s, a reference to the heavy emphasis on state planning in his rival’s proposals.
Wait. I thought being like Venezuela was a good thing. Ask Bernie.
He ridiculed Rezaei’s remarks that the country’s foreign exchange earnings could be boosted by taking western soldiers hostage.
There's a guy who's thinking outside of the box. But why not Chinese soldiers, I wonder, or Russians?