Rouhani attacks Khamenei: Iran will choose between deception and honesty
Just a day before Iranians head to the polls, President Hassan Rouhani has stepped up attacks against Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his close associates like the Revolutionary Guards, Astan Quds Razavi Institute headed by rival candidate Ebrahim Raisi, as well as Iran’s Broadcasting and Television Authority and the judiciary.
Addressing thousands of his supporters in Mashhad, Rouhani appeared to take on Khamanei and question his legitimacy.
“We have one government, one leader and one constitution and for each city we do not need a separate leader,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by IRNA news agency.
On Friday people will go to polling stations to choose between deceitfulness and righteousness, Rouhani said, adding, “We will choose the one who shoulders responsibility”.
Iranian hardline nominee Raisi strongly criticized moderate Rouhani’s foreign policy in a speech in his hometown of Mashhad, Iran’s second most populous urban area.
Raisi, 56, pointed his criticism at President Rouhani’s 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers, seen as his government’s main achievement.
“In our government, we will scrutinize the document you were unable to claim from the enemy with your begging diplomacy. You claimed to have removed the sanctions but the public must judge that. With the help of this very people we will lift the sanctions,” he said.
Source: Al Arabiya