Iran's Guardian Council allows six candidates to seek presidency, while barring Ahmadinejad

Iran's Guardian Council greenlit the candidacy of the country's hard-line speaker of parliament and five others for the June 28 presidential election. This decision follows a helicopter crash that claimed the lives of President Ebrahim Raisi and seven others. The council once again blocked former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a fiery populist infamous for the crackdown that ensued after his contested 2009 re-election, from participating in the race.