— 🇮🇷 Iran Election Update:

The race currently is between Pezeshkian (Reformist) and Jalili (Hardline). Ghalibaf (Populist) has been steadily losing ground.

However, sections within the IRGC are pushing more and more for the conservatives uniting behind Ghalibaf. He was an important IRGC commander for a long time, and enjoys a lot of support within the military file and amongst the regime's 'elites'.

They are currently spreading various campaigns on social media saying that Jalili should drop out in favor of Ghalibaf, or otherwise people will risk a Pezeshkian win in the first round.

IRGC-aligned channels are also saying that a vote for Jalili is a wasted vote, and that all conservatives / revolutionaries must vote for Ghalibaf in order to secure a strong victory.

In reality, it is quite the opposite: If Ghalibaf drops out in favor of Jalili, he has a good chance of winning the election. Jalili is polling higher than Ghalibaf, so it's only natural for him to stay in the race, which he has clearly said he would.

Ghalibaf supporters fear that Jalili doesn't have enough support among the various classes of Iranian society to win in the first round, and they assess that he might lose to Pezeshkian in a second round.

This Presidential race perfectly sums up the power structures within Iran: The revolutionary religious front, extremely loyal to Khamenei, on the one hand (Jalili); the military leadership and regime elites on the other hand (Ghalibaf); and the liberal reformist opposition (Pezeshkian).

@Middle_East_Spectator

— NOTE: It's illegal for the IRGC to promote candidates for the election, but they are doing it anyway.

They want 'their man' (Ghalibaf) to be in power. In 2021, they also supported a very obscure ex-IRGC Commander on social media, Saeed Mohammad, who nobody knew anything about.

Luckily he was disqualified by the Guardian Council, but the IRGC is getting involved more and more in political business, when they shouldn't. For now, I'm not worried, but this could turn into a problem in the future.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷/🇾🇪 NEW: Yemen announces it has used its first hypersonic missile 'Hatem 2' against an Israeli ship

Recently, the Yemeni Armed Forces announced they had started domestic production of Iran's 'Kheybar Shekan' MRBM, under the name 'Palestine' (فلسطين).

Those among us with knowledge about Iran's missile program know that there exists an upgraded version of the Kheybar Shekan, namely the Kheybar Shekan-2, which is outfitted with a special cone tip. The Kheybar Shekan-2 is a hypersonic missile due to its upgraded design.

So, it seems that Iran has not only given Yemen the blueprints and expertise to build the regular Kheybar Shekan, but its most advanced, hypersonic brother: the 'Kheybar Shekan-2', under the Yemeni name 'Hatem-2'.

No Iranian hypersonic missiles were used in its attack on Israel, so the fact that they allow the Yemenis to possess such advanced equipment that even they themselves have not used, speaks volumes about how comitted Iran is to the Axis of Resistance and its allies.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇷 BREAKING: Presidential candidate Amirhossein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi drops out of the race

In a statement, Ghazizadeh-Hashemi says he withdrew in order to strengthen and unite the Conservative front.

He also called on the three other Conservative candidates to unite and agree upon a single candidate in order to defeat the Reformists led by Masoud Pezeshkian.

@Middle_East_Spectator

— 🇮🇱/🇸🇾 NEW: Israeli airstrike in Damascus

@Middle_East_Spectator