Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel drops out of presidential election race

Haddad-Adel had been one of three (2+1) so-called “principlist” conservative candidates alongside Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati. He did not endorse any single candidate, but urged voters to back his fellow principlists, hinting that they were the ones also backed by Khamenei. “I advise the dear people to make the right decision so that either a principlist wins in the first round or, if the election runs to a second round, the competition be between two principlists.”