Hardliner Ahmadinejad
Iran okays 6 names for presidential race, blocks Ahmadinejad again
Iran's Guardian Council on Sunday approved the country's hard-line parliament speaker and five others to run in the country's June 28 presidential election following a helicopter crash that killed President Ebrahim Raisi and seven others. The council again barred former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a firebrand populist known for the crackdown that followed his disputed 2009 re-election, from running. The council's decision represents the starting gun for a shortened, two-week campaign to replace Raisi, a hard-line protege of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei once floated as a possible successor for the 85-year-old cleric. The selection of candidates approved by the Guardian Council, a panel of clerics and jurists ultimately overseen by Khamenei, suggests Iran's Shiite theocracy hopes to ease the election through after recent votes saw record-low turnout and as tensions remain high over the country's rapidly advancing nuclear program, as well as the Israel-Hamas war. The Guard
 "Iran okays 6 names for presidential race, blocks Ahmadinejad again")
Former Prez Ahmadinejad to run for Iranian presidency again
The hopefuls will have 20 days for electoral campaign, ahead of the election day slated for May 19
 "Former Prez Ahmadinejad to run for Iranian presidency again")