As with the first time he ran, in 2013, Rouhani, a "moderate", is battling "hardline conservatives", Judge Ebrahim Raisi (protegee of the Supreme Leader), and military heavyweight Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the current mayor of Tehran. [...]
Today, another label has slipped in quietly to describe Rouhani's rivals: Populists. However, unlike in the West, where populism has been used in relation to US President Donald Trump, French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen or Italian Beppe Grillo, in Iran the populists aren't overturning the establishment; they are the establishment. It's Rouhani, the reformist, the liberal internationalist, who represents the opposition. [...]
Despite Rouhani's record of raising GDP growth to 7 percent, and rescuing the economy from falling into hyperinflation as a result of Ahmadinejad's ill-managed statist policies (today, according to the IMF, inflation is around 9.2 percent), Qalibaf and Raisi accuse him of failing to deliver the promised rewards of sanctions relief. [...]
Although touted at the time as a "win-win", the nuclear deal with its accompanying sanctions relief has lost its lustre in Iran. Rouhani's rivals accuse him of signing away Iran's sovereign rights and appeasing the West. It is time, say both Raisi and Qalibaf, to stop compromising and to start pursuing a foreign policy that protects Iran's interests and prestige. Neither has officially rejected the JCPOA, but they condemn Rouhani for succumbing to US and European duplicity. International banks, they point out, still fear US fines if they offer Iran financing, the US Congress is plotting further sanctions in response to Iran's missile tests - even though they're not precluded by the JCPOA, and Trump's administration is cozying up to Iran's biggest rival, Saudi Arabia, as Washington has put "Iran on notice" while it reviews US policy towards Tehran.
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