Iran's Interior Ministry has released the final list of candidates for the presidential election scheduled for June 28. The Guardian Council — the powerful, constitutionally mandated body made up out of six clerics and six jurists — has vetted six men to run after scrutinizing both their professional qualifications and their ideological devotion to the Islamic Republic.

The council has excluded many familiar faces from the election, such as the former president and populist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani, a conservative seen as an ally to ex-President Hassan Rouhani.

Nearly all of the candidates to replace Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash on May 19, are considered hard-liners.

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Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf has long hoped to become president. The 62-year-old ran in 2005 and 2013 without success and gave up the 2017 race in favor of the ultraconservative Raisi.

Qalibaf is a self-proclaimed "Soldier of the Islamic Revolution" who has served as the general of the Revolutionary Guards and the national police chief. In 2003, Qalibaf........

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