TEHRAN, Iran — Since his Aug. 3 announcement that he intends to run in the upcoming Assembly of Experts elections, Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani is once again dominating headlines in Iran. Predictably, the two-time president and current Expediency Council chairman’s move has prompted a backlash from hard-liners. While most players in Tehran expected Rafsanjani to run, few anticipated that he would make his decision public this early. The Assembly of Experts elections aren’t slated to be held until February.

The Assembly of Experts is in charge of supervising the performance of the Supreme Leader and also to elect his successor. Members of this clerical body are elected from lists of candidates by direct public vote for eight-year terms.

Rafsanjani, who unexpectedly lost the chairmanship of the Assembly of Experts to conservative Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi in March 2015, is now expressing a firm intent to win the elections, explicitly declaring that “anyone who has an Islamic and national responsibility must prepare themselves to have a presence in the elections.”

Conservatives, who dominate the Assembly of Experts, are anxious about losing seats due to the Iranian public’s increasingly favorable view of moderates — making these elections more sensitive than in the past. Hard-liners, shocked at 80-year-old Rafsanjani's determination, have launched a wave of attacks, hoping to force him to take a step back while alienating him from the public. In this vein, they have recently launched the “I’m a villager” campaign, targeting Rafsanjani over recent statements he made in an interview with Toloue Sobh weekly.