Former governor of the Iranian Central Bank Abdolnasser Hemmati on Friday has registered to run in an early presidential election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raeisi.

According to The Iran Project, "I’ve come to say that I’m still optimistic about the future," Hemmati, who was defeated by late president Ebrahim Raisi in the previous election, told journalists.

He states that Iran’s future belongs to the youth who want dignity and welfare. Hemmati mentioned astronomical inflation, acute devaluation of the rial against foreign currencies and the persistence of the oppressive sanctions on Iran as factors hampering the country’s progress.

Iran will vote for a new president on June 28. The election was called after Raeisi lost his life along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir- Abdollahian on May 19, when a helicopter carrying them crashed into a mountainous area in northwest Iran amid foggy conditions.