Iran’s parliament elects former Guards commander & Tehran mayor Qalibaf as speaker

Lawmakers in Iran elected former Revolutionary Guards air force commander Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf on Thursday as the speaker of the parliament for one year. Qalibaf has a record as a veteran of the eight-year war with Iraq in the 1980s and as a national police chief.

The former Tehran mayor also ran unsuccessfully in two presidential races and was forced to drop out of a third to avoid splitting the hardline vote.

In a separate move, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed former parliament speaker Ali Larijani as his adviser and member of the Expediency Council, a body intended to resolve disputes between the parliament and the powerful Guardian Council, Reuters said.

The Council disqualified thousands of moderate and leading conservative candidates from taking part in Iran’s February 21 parliamentary election.