The World - News from May 8, 1989

Iranian President Ali Khamenei indirectly endorsed as his successor Parliament Speaker Hashemi Rafsanjani, who recently urged a terror campaign against Westerners to avenge the deaths of Palestinians in Israeli-occupied lands. Khamenei also backed constitutional reforms expected to give the president more executive power, Iran’s official news agency reported. The agency, monitored in Cyprus, said Khamenei did not mention Rafsanjani by name but made an obvious reference: “The candidate that some groups have identified for the presidency revives this hope in us that, God willing, our nation will have a much brighter future.” Rafsanjani, 54, is the only declared candidate in elections scheduled for late summer.