Iran’s upcoming presidential election is set to be contentious, pitting the ruling coalition of moderates and Reformists against hard-line conservatives. As moderate incumbent President Hassan Rouhani seeks a second term, his opponents are striving to reach a consensus over a single candidate — a prospect that appears unachievable given deep disagreements among conservatives, with former chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah Yazdi’s hard-line Endurance Front opting not to join a grand coalition. Whether the conservatives back only one or several candidates, Rouhani certainly faces tough days ahead. As the only candidate of the moderate-Reformist coalition, he will have to deal with not only direct attacks by his opponents but also likely revelations and leaks targeting his inner circle.

The hard-liners have five main Rouhani allies in their crosshairs:

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator has been one of the most frequent targets of the hard-liners, mainly over his foreign policy approach. His management of the 2013-2015 negotiations with six world powers to resolve the Iranian nuclear crisis faced great domestic opposition, with the hard-liners accusing Rouhani and his foreign minister of betraying the country and conceding too much to the West. After the nuclear deal was finally reached in July 2015, the attacks didn’t stop. Instead, the criticism intensified as hard-liners argued that Iran had received nothing in return for curbing its nuclear program. This conflict remains heated and will probably be dragged into the presidential debates. It should be noted that in the 2013 presidential debates, Rouhani — who was then campaigning on a promise to end the nuclear crisis, and slamming the negotiation methods of rival candidate and then-chief negotiator Jalili — was in turn accused by Jalili of bowing to pressure from the West and being deceived by the 2003 Tehran Declaration signed with Britain, France and Germany. Iran had agreed to temporarily freeze uranium enrichment for the duration of the talks, but in 2005, under US pressure, the Europeans demanded that the freeze be made permanent rather than a condition for further negotiations.