The story: With presidential elections just days away, conservative figures and media in Iran have been imploring hardline candidates to unite behind a single contender—or risk losing to Reformists. This comes as the sole Reformist hopeful, Masoud Pezeshkian, has seen his numbers soar in opinion polls. The latter has been partly propelled by former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s campaigning for Pezeshkian.

The coverage: Hardline newspaper Kayhan, whose chief editor is appointed by the supreme leader, urged conservatives to...