The coalition between Iranian moderates and Reformists appears to have been emboldened with the re-election of two prominent lawmakers as deputy parliamentary speakers.

In an internal ballot on May 31, lawmakers re-elected moderate conservative Ali Larijani as parliamentary speaker while outspoken member of parliament Ali Motahari and Reformist Masoud Pezeshkian were again chosen to serve as the first and second deputy of the speaker, respectively.

Ahead of the vote, rumors were spreading about Larijani having forged a deal with hard-liners to prevent Motahari, who has come under fire from conservatives on the far right about his outspokenness, from being re-elected as deputy speaker. As the rumors and conservative criticisms of Motahari heightened, some Reformist members of parliament claimed that the Rouhani administration had secretly agreed to remove Motahari from his deputy post.

Of note, Motahari is the son of Ayatollah Morteza Motahari, one of the theoreticians of the Islamic Republic, and he is very popular among youths and Reformists for being outspoken.