TEHRAN – Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Sunday stated it is unlikely that his brother Mohammad Hashemi will stand for presidency.

“I think it is unlikely that he will declare presidential candidacy,” Rafsanjani told the reporters in Tehran.
Mohammad Hashemi had recently signaled that he is prepared to take up the challenge.
The EC chairmen added that he himself will definitely not contest the 2009 presidential election.
On the recent meeting of the Arab countries with the 5+1 group, Rafsanjani said that the meeting is a “new Western plot” to abuse the current regional situation.
“So far the Europeans, China and Russia have been their partners”, and now Western powers are trying to find partners among regional countries, he added.
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the United States, Britain, France, China, and Russia plus Germany, which make up the 5+1 group, and representatives from Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, and the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council met on Dec 16 at the UN to discuss Iran’s nuclear program