Regarding Bijan Khajehpour's May 30 article, "Key role for young Iranians in June's presidential poll": I'm not sure why The Japan Times published this article, since it is very out of date and no longer relevant.
The deadline for registering for Iran's June 12 presidential elections passed more than two weeks ago, and the hardline Council of Guardians has already vetted just four candidates: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Moussavi, former Parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi and Mohsen Rezaei.
Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baquer Qalibaf is not among them because he never threw his hat into the race. Moreover, former President Mohammad Khatami has given his public backing to Moussavi. All of Moussavi's campaign ads carry pictures of both men smiling, side by side.
So the idea of Iranian youth losing an option in Khatami simply isn't true since he is campaigning harder for Moussavi than he ever did for himself. Many Iranian youth have grown enthusiastic about both Moussavi and Karroubi.
Half the problem with Iran in the international arena these days is that newspaper editors don't bother to check their facts before publishing any old opinion article that will fill up space.