In the first televised interview of the six Iranian candidates approved to run in the presidential election, Ebrahim Raisi, the custodian of Iran’s largest religious endowment, described a dark economic condition in Iran and said he would be able to fix it.
“In my own life I’ve tasted poverty,” Raisi began when asked what his plans are for the poor. “And since I became the custodian of the Astan-e Quds Razavi, I’ve encountered men and women who are dealing with numerous difficulties.” In March 2016, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appointed Raisi as custodian of the shrine of Imam Reza, the holiest (and wealthiest) site in Iran for Shiite Muslims. Since his appointment, he began taking trips to poor villages outside the northeastern city of Mashhad, where the shrine is located.