Iran state TV and the Fars news agency are reporting that former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, a leading ally of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, have been barred from running in the June 14 presidential election.

The reports said Rafsanjani and Mashaie were not on the list of candidates vetted by Iran’s Guardians Council.

Earlier media reports had said hard-line lawmakers had petitioned authorities to bar the two from the vote.

The candidacies of Mashaei and Rafsanjani, a moderate conservative backed by reformists, presented a challenge to conservative front-runners loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, constitutionally barred from running for office, has backed Mashaei despite disapproval from Khamenei.

Ultraconservatives have denounced Mashaei as part of a “deviant current” opposing Islamic rule.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters
By RFE/RL