Iranian conservative Haddad-Adel drops out of presidential election

Conservative former parliament speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel on Monday withdrew his candidacy from Iran's June 14 presidential election, the semi-official Mehr news agency said.

"With my withdrawal I ask the dear people to strictly observe the criteria of the Supreme Leader of the Revolution (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) when they vote for candidates," he said in a statement carried by Mehr. (Reuters)