This is John Bachelor, conversation with my colleague Ben and Ben Taliblo, Senior Fellow, The Foundation for

Defensive Democracy, about the presidential contest in Iran in these next hours.

Six men, all hardliners, one a cleric, the others associated with brutality

and persecution, the Basseage, the IRGC, mayors of Tehran during times of suppression of the population, all of them ferocious

devoted to the Supreme Leader who makes this choice anticipating that he will age in this four-year term.

And it might be time for transition, but might not, but one of these men will emerge as a very loud voice in Iran during this period of

strife, Iran attacking Israel, attacking the United States.

Ben and Ben Taliblu, I ask him, does he have a choice?

He answers very carefully.

More of this later tonight, the profiles of each of the six men, hardliners, brutes.

In essence, no. The one that may have a role in supreme leader in succession, and I would say in essence no, because whoever wins be running people lose, but the reason the selection, or shall we say

selection matters is that who may be at the helm

of the presidency after the end of their first four-year term

will be at the hem when Iran's Supreme Leader is 89 or 89.5 and may move from being an

octogenarian into someone in his 90s.

So a person who controls the bully pulpit then could create more political space for themselves and that's precisely why

Homine is making this such a tightly contested and such a very very narrow debate.