Former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati and heavy weight politician Mohammad Javad Larijani have been urged by 2nd Khordad Front to run for president in the upcoming elections, a source close to President's Office said.

Talking to the TEHRAN TIMES, he said the Chief of Staff of President's Office Mohammad-Ali Abtahi has met Ali Akbar Velayati and urged him to run in the next year's presidential elections.

Velayati said earlier that he would not run for president. Velayati was among eleven ministers who openly supported former Majlis speaker Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri in the last presidential elections. He was Iran's foreign minister for more than one-and-a-half decades.

Presidential elections will be held in May 2001. Although President Khatami has not clearly announced his candidacy, his close allies believe that he will be certainly in the race.

At the same some circles in the 2nd Khordad Front are encouraging the embattled conservative politician, former MP, Mohammad Javad Larijani to run for president.

Larijani was invited by chief of IRNA Fereydoun Verdinejad to visit the state news agency. In his speech at the IRNA Larijani said we can hold dialogue with the United States even deep in hell. Many analysts interpret his statement as a gesture indicating his decision to run for president.

Among other conservatives who are in the race is Ahmad Tavakkoli, a former cabinet minister and managing editor of the Persian language Farda which was forced to close down saying it is not economical. In an interview with the Persian Weekly Tehran-e Emrouz, Tavakkoli distanced himself from the conservatives.

Yet another conservative candidate is Farah Khosravi the only female candidate thus far announcing her candidacy.