Roundup: Iran top leader urges peaceful presidential campaigns, vote

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday called for peaceful presidential campaigns and warned that the enemy of the Islamic republic wants to use the ongoing campaigns to create insecurity and turmoil in Iran, official website of the leader reported.

"If the people violate the law and ethics, and make the enemy hopeful with their words, the election will end in our loss," Khamenei was quoted as saying.

Iranians will go to the polls on May 19 to elect a new president. More than 56 million people are eligible to vote.

"The short term objective of the enemy is to disturb security and create chaos and sedition in the country," Khamenei said, adding that "if we get ready to confront the creation of insecurity and sedition, we will determinedly annul the enemy's plot."

To hurt economy of the country and livelihood of people is the enemy's mid-term aim, he said.

Therefore, the Iranian officials should feel responsibility about the issues like productivity of economy and unemployment to create hope for the people, he added.

Khamenei also downplayed what he termed "the strategic objective of the enemy to change the fundamentals of the Islamic establishment."

He further warned the presidential candidates against the raise of such issues as "the ethnicity, language, geographical division" among the nation , during their campaigns. Otherwise, it will serve the interests of the enemies, he stressed.

The Iranian leader urged the presidential hopefuls to announce that "the economic issues and the livelihood of people as their priority, and that they will work to solve such problems."

He also said that "the candidates should indicate it openly (in their campaigns) that they are against the excessive demands of the United States and malice of Israel."

Khamenei who was talking to the commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) also said that Iran will increase its missile capability despite the enemies' propaganda against it.

"The hype over Iran's missile capability is because of their (enemies) spite and anger about this element of power in Iran," he was quoted as saying.

On Friday, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said that the IRGC had unveiled Iran's underground depots of missiles, and written anti-slogan slogans on the testing missiles recently to abort the nuclear deal between Iran and the world powers reached in July 2015.

Rouhani was implying the provocations that such moves by the IRGC would have caused on western side to impose other rounds of sanctions against the country.

Khameni, however, said Wednesday that "We possess missiles which are very precise and can hit the targets with high precision from thousands of kilometers away."

"We will preserve this capability with all in power and will increase it powerfully," he stressed.

Iran's military power serves as a tool for "deterring purposes" and relies on domestic potentials, he added.

The U.S. officials have said Iran's ballistic missile launches are in defiance of UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

Resolution 2231, adopted on July 20, 2015, calls upon Iran not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.

The Iranian officials unanimously called the missile tests "inalienable right" of the country to boost deterrent power.

On Sunday, Khamenei called for a massive turnout in the presidential elections in the country to disappoint the enemy.

"If we want the grandeur and sovereignty of the Islamic republic to be preserved and it remains immune (to the harms), all should participate in the elections," Khamenei said, adding that "The only way to confront the animosity of the enemy is the presence of people at the scene."

"If a dereliction is made and some pave the way for people's disappointment, the country will definitely suffer," he was quoted as saying. Endit