Mohsen Rezai, former commander Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, pulled out of the elections today. It is probably an attempt to unify the hard-liner vote which is thought to be split amongst too many conservative candidates. Rezai was one of the weakest candidates in the polls (garnering up to 5% of the votes).

This could be an attempt to push Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, the leading conservative candidate, as a front-runner or at least ahead of Mostafa Moien, who is second in recent polls and is gaining in popularity.