Iran’s former president Hassan Rouhani has been disqualified from the council that chooses the next supreme leader, a significant blow to the country’s centrist forces.
The Guardian Council, a constitutional body dominated by hardliners, rejected the application by Rouhani, president of Iran for eight years until 2021, to stand again for the 88-member Assembly of Experts, officials in his office said.
“No reason was given and it is not clear yet if he will appeal,” an official told the Financial Times.
Rouhani staked his political future on a nuclear accord with world powers in 2015. Its ultimate failure is regarded as a national disgrace by hardliners. The US withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and imposed a swinging package of economic sanctions on the Islamic republic.