PODCAST - Eye for Iran: 'Not Free and Fair' Elections in Iran

Iran's June 28 snap presidential election is a race dominated by hardliners which is widely considered by critics as a "selection", highly engineered by the state.

In this week's episode of ‘Eye for Iran,' host Negar Mojtahedi speaks to author and journalist Arash Azizi, and Gabriel Noronha, who served as the Iran advisor to the US State Department during Trump's presidency, about the six candidates approved by the Guardian Council to run and what they mean for the future of Iran.

Who will succeed the late president Ebrahim Raisi? Will the 'Woman, Life, Freedom' movement impact the outcome of the elections?

'Eye for Iran' attempts to answers those questions and more.

Azizi and Noronha both believe Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is a top contender to win, and the reason has to do with Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei and his age.

"I think the most important question for the future Iran right now is what's going to happen when Khamenei dies...I think Iran after Khamenei is moving into a definitely less clerical and even less Islamist ideology in many ways, into more of a military authoritarian state," said Azizi.

With there being one moderate in the mix, namely Masoud Pezeshkian, Noronha believes it won't make much of a difference. He said "there's the talk about the moderates and the reformists. I don't believe at this point, if you're part and parcel of the Iranian government and establishment, that there is a real reformist movement left at all. And I don't think most of the Iranian people really believe that there's much of a difference at this point."

Watch and listen to this week’s episode of ‘Eye for Iran’ as your host and guests dig into these topics.