‘Reformists should reach consensus to continue their political life’

TEHRAN,April 29(MNA) – Mohammad Reza Aref, who has been mentioned as a possible pro-reform candidate in Iran’s June presidential election, has said that the reformists should achieve a consensus on their policies to be able to continue their political life. “In recent years, the reformists have received many blows due to their failure to come to an understanding and reach a consensus…The reformists need to arrive at a consensus to continue their political life because they will be victorious this way,” Aref, who formerly served as vice president under Mohammad Khatami, said in a meeting with a number of students of Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran on Saturday. He also pointed to the country’s economic situation and said, “Despite the fact that the country’s revenues have significantly increased over the past eight years, the people are really feeling economic pressure.” He went on to say that the situation had developed “in a way that there is no option but the presence of the reformists because of their successful track record in governing the country.” Commenting on the impact of the sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program on the country’s economy, Aref said that some problems were the result of foreign pressure, but all economic problems could not be attributed to sanctions and most of them stemmed from mismanagement and subjective measures.