Rush of Executions in Iran Pushed Global Number to Eight-Year High

Potential candidate

However, the reformists' electoral strength remains unclear, as some voters believe they failed to bring greater freedoms in the periods when they were in power in the past decade.

Moreover, the 2022 protests exposed a widening rift between the reformists and demonstrators demanding "regime change."

"Even allowing a few known moderates to stand ... might not be enough to get people to turn out. Voters have been repeatedly misled by the idea that reform-minded candidates ... would produce real change," said Eurasia Group analyst Gregory Brew.

A new president would be unlikely to make any change to Iran's nuclear or foreign policy, both of which are controlled by the supreme leader.

The insiders said candidates who could register could include Parviz Fattah, a former Guards member who heads an investment fund linked to the leader, and Saeed Jalili, a former chief nuclear negotiator who ran Khamenei's office for four years in 2001.

Fattah will make his final decision "after meeting some senior authorities on Wednesday," a third insider said.

Iranian media have also mentioned interim President Mohammad Mokhber and Ali Larijani, a former parliament speaker and Khamenei adviser, as possible candidates. Larijani was barred from standing in the 2021 presidential race.

Israeli intelligence captured the communications of numerous ICC officials, including the chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, and his predecessor as prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, intercepting phone calls, messages, emails and documents. The surveillance was ongoing in recent months, providing Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, with advance knowledge of the prosecutor’s intentions.

Meanwhile on Tuesday, the Pentagon said the US-built $320m makeshift pier in northern Gaza, intended to deliver humanitarian aid, broke apart in heavy seas, putting supply efforts on hold for at least a week.