Iran's Khatami to run for office

[Hope And Change]

Calls had been mounting for Mr Khatami to put forward his name

Iran's Khatami to run for office

Page last updated at 16:13 GMT, Sunday, 8 February 2009

Iran's former president Mohammad Khatami has ended months of speculation by announcing that he will run in June's presidential election.

Mr Khatami was president of Iran from 1997-2005 and was succeeded by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a conservative.

"I will seriously take part as a candidate for the election," he told a meeting of a pro-reform group.

In January, a close aide to Mr Ahmadinejad said the incumbent would, as expected, stand for re-election.

Mr Khatami, the most liberal president since the revolution, should have a good chance of unseating Mr Ahmadinejad, arguably the most conservative leader in that time, says the BBC's Jon Leyne, in Tehran.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7877740.stm">Full article here

[applegrove]

1. We can only hope.

[roamer65]

2. This is a man we can deal with.

If he wins, real talks between Iran and the US will start.

[Hope And Change]

3. No doubt about that.However those who really have the power are the mullahs and the chief of state..

the President can`t do very much without their approval.Khatami tried to reform the country when he was President but the conservative mullahs stopped him.

But still, I rather have Khatami as President than a guy like Ahmadinejad to deal with.