Reformist religious leader Hojjatoeslam Hadi Khamenaei expressed support of the candidacy of Aref, whom he called competent and possessing better attributes than the other candidates needed to run a nation. Khamenaei emphasized that Aref is, in his opinion, the only candidate for the reformists, that Hassan Rouhani himself on more than one occasion said that he is not reformist but an independent candidate.