Saeed Jalili, a hard-line former negotiator known as a ‘true believer,’ seeks Iran’s presidency

Former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili is on the precipice of being elected as the next president of Iran; he faces reformist Masoud Pezeshkian in the upcoming runoff election.

Those hours of lecturing in 2008 stalled talks as hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei advanced the country's nuclear program. That put pressure on the West that eventually eased with Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which lifted sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Now Jalili, 58, stands on the precipice of being elected as Iran's next president as he faces a runoff election Friday against the little-known reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon. With Iran's nuclear program enriching uranium at levels near-weapons grade, a win by Jalili may again see already-stalled negotiations freeze.