Live Blog: Presidential Debate in Iran -- Foreign Policy

#IranElection Qalibaf: Talking to 6 powers shows we have disrupted American hegemony, our resistance is here. We've had success in our FP

— Abas Aslani (@abasinfo) June 7, 2013

Gholam Ali haddad Adel, former parliament speaker, is up next after Qalibaf. He says Iran will never bow down to U.S. pressure and will remain independent. The U.S., he says, tried to ignore China for decades but finally reached out to Beijing.

RT @mohammadzaam: Adel: #Nuclear issue is an excuse,#US sanctioned us even before our nuc program. US'prob is our revolution since 1st day

— Scott Peterson (@peterson__scott) June 7, 2013

Qalibaf responds to comments/questions from the other candidates. He backs down a bit saying he was not criticizing Iran's foreign policies, but will "kiss the hands" of all those involved in orchestrating the country's international policies

Jalili takes a shot at reformist ex-president Khatami. 'What happened after Khatami began cooperating with the United States? They began calling Iran as part of an axis of evil

Said Jalili, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, criticizes Rafsanjani. He asks what was Rafsanjani's policy? "They iussued two arrest warrants against him"

Definitely a different tone to this debate -- more direct confrontation among the candidates.

#Jalili criticizes #Khatami's foreign policy, says #Ahmadinejad created atmosphere which defeated US in Afghanistan. #iranelection #مناظره

— Negar Mortazavi (@negarmortazavi) June 7, 2013

Hassan Rohani's Twitter feed (in English) is up-to-the-minute:

#Iran was always on list of targets..after #Afghanistan, they wanted to target Iran..but with planning & #prudence, we avoided #conflict..

— Rouhani Campaign (@HassanRouhani) June 7, 2013

#Iran remained unharmed while #Iraq and #Afghanistan were devastated..we're now in position to help Afghans and Iraqis..

— Rouhani Campaign (@HassanRouhani) June 7, 2013

In sum, grossly unfair of #Ghalibaf to question efficacy of #foreign policy throughout past 34 years..

— Rouhani Campaign (@HassanRouhani) June 7, 2013

Qalibaf has criticized Iran's current foreign policy. He says if a government is not accepted by its own people, how can they have the authority to deal with other countries