Principlist candidate Alireza Zakani drops out of the 2021 presidential election in support of fellow contender Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi, who enjoys the highest support among voters, according to opinion polls.

Presidential candidate Alireza Zakani says the United States can return to the 2015 nuclear deal only if it removes, verifiably, all the sanctions it imposed on Iran in the wake of abandoning the accord and provides guarantees that it will honor its contractual obligations.

Presidential candidate Alireza Zakani, an outspoken critic of the 2015 nuclear deal, says he will continue negotiations with the five parties to the agreement, if he is elected, to get back the rights of the Iranian nation.

Read quick updates on what Alireza Zakani says on the campaign trail below. Check routinely for new content.

Iranian presidential candidate Alireza Zakani says individuals who have had a role in the straining of the Iranian economy are now presenting themselves as agents of change and reform, in a thinly-veiled attack on his Reformist rivals and possibly the broader reform movement in Iran.

Presidential candidate Alireza Zakani says the United States uses sanctions as an instrument against other countries but “will not be able to do anything” against Iran if the country strengthens its economy.

The candidates in Iran’s 2021 presidential election have started to move from a campaigning stage of merely laying out their own plans for the future to one of directly taking on one another.