TEHRAN (Dispatches) – The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said Thursday the enemies are trying to infuse despair and despondency among the Iranians in order to keep them away from the ballot boxes in the presidential election next month.
IRGC spokesman Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif the enemy is painting a bleak picture and spreading lies and false claims against the Islamic establishment and the Iranian nation.
To counter this plot, it is incumbent upon the country’s media activists to call for a massive turnout in the June 18 election, he told a group of media activists and Basij volunteers in the northwestern city of Tabriz.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has warned that the enemies have been plotting to undermine the upcoming presidential election in Iran.
Presidential candidate Ebrahim Raeisi said he would work to promote Iran’s economic relations with its neighbors first, and the rest of the world community next if he was elected.
In a meeting with businessmen and members of Iran’s commerce, unions, and cooperative chambers, Raeisi outlined the measures that the next administration would need to take at home and abroad in order to fix the country’s economy.
“We want a strong Iran and the groundwork is already laid” to achieve that goal, said Raeisi. “Human resources, mines and treasures in the country serve as the basis. What’s now needed is efficient, Jihadi (arduous) management, which could turn these elements into power and strength.”
Raeisi, who is the chief of Iran’s Judiciary, said links should be established between science and universities, production and the market, and economy and diplomacy in order to speed up the country’s economic progress.
The candidate expressed dissatisfaction with the current level of Iran’s share in the regional market and told the businessmen, “With your help and through strong diplomacy, we can establish good relations with the regional countries and raise the volume of our exports (to neighbors) to the best level.”
“We believe in interactions with the entire world in order to solve the (country’s) economic issues, (but) the regional countries should be a priority,” he added.
Raeisi will be contesting the June 18 presidential election along with six other candidates.
He has said he will be running on a platform of putting up a fight against corruption and tackling such economic problems as poverty, unemployment, and inflation.