Iranian ex-intelligence minister says ready to run in presidential election

TEHRAN, Oct. 20 (MNA) – Former intelligence minister Ali Fallahian said he is ready to contest the next year’s presidential election. “If the people want, I will stand as a candidate in the election,” Fallahian told the Mehr News Agency on Friday. Iran will hold presidential election on June 14, 2013. Fallahian served as intelligence minister during Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani’s presidency. He ran unsuccessfully for president in 2001. Commenting on the fact that reformists plan to contest the election, he said, “I believe that this current is still insisting on its extremism so that persons like Mousavi Khoeiniha are still emphasizing” that seditionists should be still active. He added, “Reformists’ best choice (for presidential election) is Mohammad Ali Najafi.” Najafi is currently a city councilor. He was the director of the Management and Planning Organization under President Mohammad Khatami.