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President Ahmadinejad and his right-hand man, Presidential candidate Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, at the election centre today

It is the last day for hopefuls to register as candidates in Iran's Presidential election, scheduled for 14 June. Among the big questions:

1. When will President Ahmadinejad's camp put forth its candidate? Will it be Ahmadinejad's right-hand man, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, or --- anticipating the Guardian Council's rejection of Rahim-Mashai --- will the President's inner circle unveil an alternative such as former Government spokesperson Gholam Hossein Elham or Minister of Transport Ali Nikzad?

2. Will former President Hashemi Rafsanjani enter the contest? His office has announced a press conference for 3 p.m. local time (1030 GMT).

3. Will the Supreme Leader's 2+1 Committee make any move for a "unity" candidate? Indications are that they will put this off, with all three members putting in their names and a final decision later this month after the Guardian Council's vetting of the candidates.

Election Watch: Rafsanjani Edition

Former president Hashemi Rafsanjani has told the ISNA news agency that he "has come to serve and the people have the right to elect me or not."

Meanwhile, MP Alireza Zakani, Presidential hopeful and head of one of the factions seeking to fight the election, has said he will support Saeed Jalili --- Secretary of the National Security Council --- to stop the "sedition" of Rafsanjani.

Press Watch: Suspension Lifted on Reuters Bureau in Tehran

Away from the Presidential election, a court has lifted a 13-month ban on the Reuters bureau in Tehran.

The news agency was suspended, and its head threatened with prosecution, over an April 2012 video report on martial arts training by Iranian women.

The report initially appeared with a headline that the women were training to become assassins.

Rallying Behind Rafsanjani

In another major development pointing to a serious challenge by former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, the "Advisory Council of the Reformists" has put out a statement that --- after a meeting with former President Mohammad Khatami --- all reformists will be formally backing Rafsanjani.

Presidential Election Watch: A Snapshot of Ahmadinejad's Man

Thomas Erdbrink of The New York Times offers a portrait of the declaration of candidacy by President Ahmadinejad's right-hand man, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, this afternoon:

In a sign of the tensions that will undoubtedly erupt now that Mr. Mashaei is a candidate, a fistfight broke out in the ministry building’s press room.

After a critic of Mr. Mashaei, Mohammad Abyaneh, a former Iranian ambassador to Mexico, accused Mr. Mashaei of placing “pornographic statues” in parks, one supporter shoved all the press microphones off a table and got into a fistfight with another person. “This is Mashaei,” Mr. Abyaneh shouted before he was escorted away.
After registering, Mr. Mashaei, whose son is married to the president’s daughter, held up his identity card and inked finger, a sign that he had entered his name as a candidate. With Mr. Ahmadinejad standing behind him, he asked those in the room to praise God.

“Welcome to the spring of humanity,” Mr. Mashaei said. He apologized for arriving at the last minute but did not explain why, and he did not take any questions. “Mr. Ahmadinejad convinced me that I have to run for the sake of the country,” he said.

Mr. Mashaei offered full-throated praise for Mr. Ahmadinejad, with whom he has been working for more than two decades.

“I will follow his suit,” he said.

Presidential Election Watch: Rallying Behind Rafsanjani

Two possible candidates have already withdrawn in favour of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani: MP Massoud Pezeshkian and Rafsanjani's ally Hasssan Rohani, a senior official with the Expediency Council.

We are now watching if the reformists signal support of Rafsanjani --- following this week's endorsement by former President Mohammad Khatami --- with the withdrawal of Mohammad Reza Aref, a minister in Khatami's administration.

Presidential Election Watch: "Ahmadinejad Means Mashaei and Mashaei Means Ahmadinejad

Pro-Government State news agency IRNA reports comments by President Ahmadinejad following the registration of his right-hand man, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai. Mashai has "all the strengths of the Iranian nation and his little brother Ahmadinejad".

The President continued, "Ahmadinejad means Mashai and Mashai means Ahmadinejad."

Presidential Election Watch: Rafsanjani's Big Move

How serious is former President Hashemi Rafsanjani in his challenge for the Presidency --- and possibly to the Supreme Leader's attempt to control the Presidential election?

Rafsanjani's website features carefully-framed Presidential-style portraits and the headline: "Rafsanjani Has Arrived":

Presidential Election Watch: Rafsanjani Enters Race

Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani has filed his candidacy just before the deadline --- "in the 90th minute", as Fars News Agency puts it.

Presidential Election Watch: Supreme Leader's Advisor Velayati Declares Candidacy

The third member of the Supreme Leader's 2+1 Committee, senior advisor Ali Akbar Velayati, has registered.

Velayati follows the other two members, Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf and leading Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, in formally declaring. The Committee has said that it will not name a single candidate until the Guardian Council has vetted the Presidential hopefuls.

Presidential Election Watch: Ahmadinejad's Right-Hand Man Is Running

President Ahmadinejad's confidante and former Chief of Staff, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai, has registered his candidacy.

Ahmadinejad was present at the election centre as Rahim-Mashai filed.

Another Ahmadinejad ally, former media advisor Ali Akbar Javanfekr, has also formally declared.

Last year Javanfekr was imprisoned over a special issue of his Iran newspaper. He was granted prison leave to register.

Presidential Election Watch: Jalili Running for Supreme Leader's Men?; Intimadation of Rafsanjani?

Back from a Saturday break to find important news from an EA correspondent....

1. The Secretary of the National Security Council and Iran's lead nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, has registered as a candidate.

Last week, we speculated that Jalili might be the eventual choice of the Supreme Leader's office, given the apparent failure of any of the three men of the "2+1 Committee" to get the endorsement.

Is this coming to pass?

2. Among the other declared candidates is Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast and MP Masoud Pezeshkian.

Former Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who in the "Coalition of 5", has said that since he does not believe in the coalition's choice of Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mohammad Hassan Abutorabi Fard, he will register this afternoon.

Davood Ahmadinejad, a vocal critic of his brother's Presidency, registered earlier today.

3. Reports continue that Government supporters have gathered in front of the office of former Presidents Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, shouting slogans against them and preventing any registration of their candidacies.

Claim: Leading Clerics Call on Rafsanjani to Run

The opposition site Kalemeh asserts that Grand Ayatollah Sistani, the leading Shia cleric in Iraq, and Iran's Grand Ayatollah Vahid Khorasani have asked former President Hashemi Rafsanjani to run in this year's election.

Prominent Figures Blocked from Standing in Local Elections

Is this a sign of developments to come in the Presidential campaign?

Officials have begun the rejection of hopefuls from local elections, to be held at the same time as the Presidential ballot.

Among those who have been blocked are Mohsen Hashemi, the son of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, former Vice President Massoumeh Ebtekar, and former reformist MP Fatehmeh Rakei.

Syria Watch: Armed Forces Chief of Staff Praises Hezbollah, Assad

Maj. Gen. Seyed Hassan Firouzabadi, the Chief of Staff of Iran's Armed Forces, has praised Hezbollah's role in "shaping the resistance" in Syria, according to Sepah News, the Revolutionary Guards' official public relations site.

Firouzabadi said that Bashar al-Assad's "strong will" coupled with Hezbollah's "resistance" was consistent across Syria.

Syria's victory against "idolatry, arrogance and Wahhabi extremism" was centered around Assad and had been achieved because of his "resistance and courageous intelligence and support for the Syrian national consciousness", Firouzabadi said.

Election Watch: Qalibaf and Davood Ahmadinejad Register

Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and Davood Ahmadinejad --- brother of the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad --- registered their candidacies on Saturday morning, the final day for presidential hopefuls to formally declare their wish to run.

Davood Ahmadinejad was the first presidential hopeful to register on Saturday, attending the Interior Ministry at 08:30 Tehran time, and told reporters he intended to run as an independent candidate, according to the Tabnak news website.

Qalibaf is the second member of the pro-Khamenei 2+1 Committee to register. Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel put his name down to run on Friday, leaving only Khamenei senior aide Ali Akbar Velayati.

Javad Etaat, a professor of political science at Shahid Behesti University also registered on Saturday morning. Following the disputed 2009 elections, Etaat criticized state media, accusing state broadcaster IRIB of being one-sided in its election coverage.