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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

May 30, 2023

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (Persian: محمود احمدی‌نژاد, romanized: Mahmūd Ahmadīnežād [mæhmuːd(-e) æhmædiːneʒɒːd] (listen)[b][10][11]), born Mahmoud Sabbaghian[5] (Persian: محمود صباغیان, romanized: Mahmoud Sabbāghyān, 28 October 1956),[12][13] is an Iranian principlist and nationalist politician who served as the sixth president of Iran from 2005 to 2013. He is currently a member of the Expediency Discernment Council. He was known for his hardline views and nuclearisation of Iran. He was also the main political leader of the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, a coalition of conservative political groups in the country, and served as mayor of Tehran from 2003 to 2005, reversing many of his predecessor's reforms.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
محمود احمدی‌نژاد
Ahmadinejad in 2019
Member of Expediency Discernment Council
Assumed office
5 August 2013[1]
Appointed byAli Khamenei
ChairmanAkbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Ali Movahedi-Kermani (Acting)
Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi
Sadeq Larijani
Preceded byHassan Rouhani
6th President of Iran
In office
3 August 2005 – 3 August 2013
Supreme LeaderAli Khamenei
First Vice PresidentParviz Davoodi
Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei
Mohammad Reza Rahimi
Preceded byMohammad Khatami
Succeeded byHassan Rouhani
Acting ministerial offices
Minister of Petroleum
Acting[2]
In office
16 May 2011 – 2 June 2011
PresidentHimself
Preceded byMasoud Mir-Kazemi
Succeeded byMohammad Aliabadi (Acting)
Minister of Intelligence
Acting[3]
In office
25 July 2009 – 3 September 2009
PresidentHimself
Preceded byGholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i
Succeeded byHeydar Moslehi
Mayor of Tehran
In office
20 May 2003[4] – 28 June 2005
Preceded byMohammad-Hossein Moghimi (Acting)
Succeeded byAli Saeedlou (Acting)
Governor of Ardabil Province
In office
28 November 1993 – 29 October 1997
PresidentAkbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Preceded byProvince created
Succeeded bySeyyed Hamid Tahayi
Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement
In office
30 August 2012 – 3 August 2013
Preceded byMohamed Morsi
Succeeded byHassan Rouhani
Personal details
Born
Mahmoud Sabbaghian[5]

(1956-10-28) 28 October 1956 (age 66)
Aradan, Imperial State of Iran
Political party
Other political
affiliations
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1980)​
Children3
Relatives
Residence(s)Square 72, Narmak, Tehran[6]
Alma materIran University of Science and Technology (BS, PhD)
OccupationUniversity professor
ProfessionEngineer
Signature
WebsiteOfficial website
Military service
AllegianceIran
Branch/serviceRevolutionary Guards
Years of service1986–1988[7][8]
RankNone[a]
UnitHamzeh Headquarters[7]
CommandsCombat engineering Unit, 6th Special Division[8]
Battles/warsIran–Iraq War
Academic background
Theses
  • Study of comprehensive transportation plan in Kurdistan (1988)
  • Assessment of subway for passengers transportation (A case study of Tehran) (1997)
Doctoral advisorHamid Behbahani
Other advisorsAli Mansour Khaki
Gholamreza Shirazian
Jalil Shahi
Academic work
DisciplineCivil engineering
Sub-disciplineTraffic engineering
InstitutionsIran University of Science and Technology
This article contains Persian text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols.

An engineer and teacher from a poor background,[14] ideologically shaped by thinkers such as Navvab Safavi, Jalal Al-e-Ahmad and Ahmad Fardid,[15] Ahmadinejad joined the Office for Strengthening Unity[16] after the Iranian Revolution. Appointed a provincial governor in 1993, he was replaced along with all other provincial governors in 1997 after the election of President Mohammad Khatami and returned to teaching.[17][18] Tehran's council elected him mayor in 2003.[19] He took a religious hard line, reversing reforms of previous moderate mayors.[20] His 2005 presidential campaign, supported by the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, garnered 62% of the runoff election votes, and he became president on 3 August 2005.[21][22]

During his presidency, Ahmadinejad was a controversial figure both in Iran and worldwide. He has been criticized domestically for his economic policies[23] and accused of disregard for human rights by organizations in North America and Europe.[24] Outside of Iran, he has been criticized for his hostility towards countries including Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Kingdom, and the United States and other Western and Arab states. In 2007, Ahmadinejad introduced a gasoline rationing plan to reduce the country's fuel consumption and cut the interest rates that private and public banking facilities could charge.[25][26][27] He supports Iran's nuclear program. His election to a second term in 2009 was widely disputed[28][29] and led to widespread protests domestically and criticism from Western countries.[30]

During his second term, Ahmadinejad experienced a power struggle with reformers and other traditionalists[31] in parliament and the Revolutionary Guard and with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei,[32] over his dismissal of intelligence minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i and his support for his controversial close adviser, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei.[33] On 14 March 2012, Ahmadinejad became the first president of the Islamic Republic of Iran to be summoned by the Islamic Consultative Assembly (parliament) to answer questions regarding his presidency.[34][35] Limited to two terms under the current Iranian constitution, Ahmadinejad supported Mashaei's campaign for president.[31] In 2013 Hassan Rouhani was elected as Ahmadinejad's successor.

On 12 April 2017, Ahmadinejad announced that he intended to run for a third term in the 2017 presidential election, against the objections of Supreme Leader Khamenei.[36] His nomination was rejected by the Guardian Council.[37][38] During the 2017–18 Iranian protests, Ahmadinejad criticized the current government of Iran. He made a second attempt at registering to run for the 2021 presidential election, and was rejected again by the Guardian Council.[39]

Early life and education

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was born on 28 October 1956 near Garmsar, in the village of Aradan, in Semnan province. His mother, Khanom, was a Sayyida, an honorific title given to those believed to be direct bloodline descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.[40] His father, Ahmad, was a Persian grocer and barber, and was a religious Shia who taught the Quran.[40]

When Mahmoud was one year old, his family moved to Tehran. Mahmoud's father changed their family name from "Saborjhian"[41] or "Sabaghian"[c] to Ahmadinejad in 1960 to avoid discrimination when the family moved to the city. Sabor is Persian for thread painter,[d] a once common occupation within the Semnan carpet industry. Ahmadinejad's uncle and his brother Davoud Ahmadinejad have confirmed that the previous surname was "Sabbaghian" (Persian: صباغیان).[5] Ahmadinejad is a composite name: Ahmadi Nejad. Ahmad was his father's name. The suffix Nejad in Persian means race, therefore the term Ahmadi Nejad means "the lineage of Ahmad". According to the interviews with the relatives of Ahmadi Nejad, his father who works in a small shop, sold his house in Tehran and bought a smaller house, giving the excess funds to charity and poor people.[45]

In 1976, Ahmadinejad took Iran's national university entrance examination. According to his autobiography, he was ranked 132nd out of 400,000 participants that year,[46] and soon enrolled in the Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST), located at Tehran, as an undergraduate student of civil engineering. He would later earn his doctorate in 1997 in transportation engineering and planning from Iran University of Science and Technology as well, when he was the mayor of Ardabil Province, located at the north-west of the country.[citation needed]

Administrative and academic careers

Some details of Ahmadinejad's life during the 1980s are not publicly known, but it is known that he held a number of administrative posts in the province of West Azerbaijan, Iran.[47]

Many reports say that after Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion of Iran, Ahmadinejad joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps[19] and served in their intelligence and security apparatus,[19] but his advisor Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi has said: "He has never been a member or an official member of the Revolutionary Guards", having been a Basiji-like volunteer instead.[48]

Ahmadinejad was accepted to a Master of Science program at his alma mater in 1986. He joined the faculty there as a lecturer in 1989,[14][49] and in 1997 received his doctorate in civil engineering and traffic transportation planning.[14][19]

Early political career

After the Islamic Revolution, Ahmadinejad became a member of the Office for Strengthening Unity,[16] an organization developed to prevent students from sympathizing or allying with the emerging militant Mojahedin-e Khalq organisation.[16]

Ahmadinejad first assumed political office as unelected governor to both Maku and Khoy in West Azarbaijan Province during the 1980s.[19] He eventually became an advisor to the governor general of Kurdistan Province for two years.[14][49] During his doctoral studies at Tehran, he was appointed governor general of newly formed Ardabil Province from 1993 until Mohammad Khatami removed him in 1997,[49] whereupon he returned to teaching.[19]

Mayor of Tehran

The 2003 mayoral race in Tehran elected conservative candidates from the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran to the City Council of Tehran. The Council appointed Ahmadinejad mayor.[19]

As mayor, he reversed changes made by previous moderate and reformist mayors. He put religious emphasis on the activities of cultural centres they had founded, publicised the separation of elevators for men and women in the municipality offices,[20] and suggested that people killed in the Iran–Iraq War be buried in major city squares of Tehran. He also worked to improve the traffic system and put an emphasis on charity, such as distributing free soup to the poor.[citation needed]

After his election to the presidency, Ahmadinejad's resignation as the Mayor of Tehran was accepted on 28 June 2005. After two years as mayor, Ahmadinejad was one of 65 finalists for World Mayor in 2005, selected from 550 nominees, only nine of them from Asia.[50] He was among three strong candidates for the top-ten list, but his resignation made him ineligible.[50]

Presidency (2005–2013)

Further information: Presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

2005 campaign

 
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a press conference, 21 June 2005

Ahmadinejad was not particularly well known when he entered the presidential election campaign as he had never run for office before, (he had been mayor of Tehran for only two years and had been appointed, not elected),[51]: 315  although he had already made his mark in Tehran for rolling back earlier reforms. He was/is a member of the Central Council of the Islamic Society of Engineers, but his key political support is inside the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran (Abadgaran or Developers).[52] He was also helped by support from supreme leader Ali Khamenei, of whom some described Ahmadinejad as a protégé.[53]

Ahmadinejad was largely non-committal about his plans for his presidency, perhaps to attract both religious conservatives and the lower economic classes.[54] His campaign slogan was: "It's possible and we can do it".[55]

In the campaign, he took a populist approach. He emphasized his own modest life, and compared himself with Mohammad Ali Rajai, Iran's second president. Ahmadinejad said he planned to create an "exemplary government for the people of the world" in Iran.[citation needed] He was a "principlist", acting politically based on Islamic and revolutionary principles. One of his goals was "putting the petroleum income on people's tables", meaning Iran's oil profits would be distributed among the poor.[56]

Ahmadinejad was the only presidential candidate who spoke out against future relations with the United States. He told Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting the United Nations was "one-sided, stacked against the world of Islam."[57] He opposed the veto power of the UN Security Council's five permanent members: "It is not just for a few states to sit and veto global approvals. Should such a privilege continue to exist, the Muslim world with a population of nearly 1.5 billion should be extended the same privilege." He defended Iran's nuclear program and accused "a few arrogant powers" of trying to limit Iran's industrial and technological development in this and other fields.[citation needed]

In his second-round campaign, he said, "We didn't participate in the revolution for turn-by-turn government. ... This revolution tries to reach a world-wide government." He spoke of an extended program using trade to improve foreign relations, and called for greater ties with Iran's neighbours and ending visa requirements between states in the region, saying that "people should visit anywhere they wish freely. People should have freedom in their pilgrimages and tours."[55]

Ahmadinejad described Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a senior cleric from Qom, as his ideological and spiritual mentor. Mesbah founded the Haghani School of thought in Iran.[citation needed] He and his team strongly supported Ahmadinejad's 2005 presidential campaign.[58]

2005 presidential election

Main article: 2005 Iranian presidential election

Ahmadinejad won 62% of the vote in the run-off poll against Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei authorized his presidency on 3 August 2005.[21][22] Ahmadinejad kissed Khamenei's hand during the ceremony to show his loyalty.[59][60]

Shortly after Ahmadinejad was elected president, some Western media outlets published claims that he was among the students who stormed the US embassy in Tehran, sparking the Iran hostage crisis. This claim has been denied by the Iranian government, the Iranian opposition, as well as an American investigation by the CIA.[61]

2005 cabinet appointments

Ministry Minister
Agriculture Mohammad Reza Eskandari
Commerce Masoud Mir Kazemi
Communication and Information Technology Mohammad Soleimani
Cooperatives Mohammad Abbasi
Culture and Islamic Guidance Hossein Saffar Harandi
Defense and Armed Forces Logistics Mostafa Mohammad Najjar
Economy and Financial Affairs Hossein Samsami
Education Alireza Ali Ahmadi
Energy Parviz Fattah
Foreign Affairs Manoucher Mottaki
Health and Medical Education Kamran Bagheri Lankarani
Housing and Urban Development Mohammad Saeedikia
Industries and Mines Aliakbar Mehrabian
Intelligence Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejehei
Interior Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi[62]
Justice Gholam Hossein Elham
Labour and Social Affairs Mohammad Jahromi
Petroleum Gholam Hossein Nozari
Roads and Transportation Hamid Behbahani
Science, Research, and Technology Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi
Welfare and Social Security Abdolreza Mesri

Iran's president is constitutionally obliged to obtain confirmation from the parliament for his selection of ministers.[63] Ahmadinejad presented a short-list at a private meeting on 5 August, and his final list on 14 August. The Majlis rejected all of his cabinet candidates for the oil portfolio and objected to the appointment of his allies in senior government office.[56] The Majlis approved a cabinet on 24 August.[64] The ministers promised to meet frequently outside Tehran and held their first meeting on 25 August in Mashhad, with four empty seats for the unapproved nominees.[65]

2006 councils and Assembly of Experts election

Main articles: 2006 Iranian councils election and Iranian Assembly of Experts election, 2006

Ahmadinejad's team lost the 2006 city council elections.[66] In the first nationwide election since Ahmadinejad became president, his allies failed to dominate election returns for the Assembly of Experts and local councils. Results, with a turnout of about 60%, suggested a voter shift toward more moderate policies. According to an editorial in the Kargozaran independent daily newspaper, "The results show that voters have learned from the past and concluded that we need to support... moderate figures." An Iranian political analyst said that "this is a blow for Ahmadinejad and Mesbah Yazdi's list."[66]

2009 presidential election

Main article: 2009 Iranian presidential election

On 23 August 2008, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei announced that he "sees Ahmadinejad as president in the next five years," a comment interpreted as indicating support for Ahmadinejad's reelection.[67] 39,165,191 ballots were cast in the election on 12 June 2009, according to Iran's election headquarters. Ahmadinejad won 24,527,516 votes, (62.63%). In second place, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, won 13,216,411 (33.75%) of the votes.[68]

2009 presidential election protests

Main article: 2009 Iranian election protests

The election results remained in dispute with both Mousavi and Ahmadinejad and their respective supporters who believe that electoral fraud occurred during the election. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei formally endorsed Ahmadinejad as president on 3 August 2009, and Ahmadinejad was sworn in for a second term on 5 August 2009.[69] Iran's Constitution stipulates term limits of two terms for the office of President.[70] Several Iranian political figures appeared to avoid the ceremony. Former presidents Mohammad Khatami, and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who was then head of the Expediency Discernment Council, along with opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, did not attend the ceremony.[71] Opposition groups asked protesters on reformist websites and blogs to launch new street demonstrations on the day of the inauguration ceremony.[72] On inauguration day, hundreds of riot police met opposition protesters outside parliament. After taking the oath of office, which was broadcast live on Iranian state television, Ahmadinejad said that he would "protect the official faith, the system of the Islamic revolution and the constitution."[69] France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States announced that they would not send the usual letters of congratulation.[69]

2009 cabinet appointments

Ministry Minister
Agriculture Sadeq Khalilian
Commerce Mehdi Ghazanfari
Communication and Information Technology Reza Taghipour
Cooperatives Mohammad Abbasi
Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad Hosseini
Defense and Armed Forces Logistics Ahmad Vahidi
Economy and Financial Affairs Shamseddin Hosseini
Education Hamid-Reza Haji Babaee
Energy Majid Namjoo
Foreign Affairs Manouchehr Mottaki
Health and Medical Education Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi
Housing and Urban Development Reza Sheykholeslam
Industries and Mines Aliakbar Mehrabian
Intelligence Heydar Moslehi
Interior Mostafa Mohammad Najjar
Justice Morteza Bakhtiari
Labour and Social Affairs Ali Nikzad
Petroleum Masoud Mir Kazemi
Roads and Transportation Hamid Behbahani
Science, Research, and Technology Kamran Daneshjoo
Welfare and Social Security Sadeq Mahsouli

Ahmadinejad announced controversial ministerial appointments for his second term. Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei was briefly appointed as first vice president, but opposed by a number of Majlis members and by the intelligence minister, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i. Mashaei followed orders to resign. Ahmadinejad then appointed Mashaei as chief of staff, and fired Mohseni-Eje'i.[73]

On 26 July 2009, Ahmadinejad's government faced a legal problem after he sacked four ministers. Iran's constitution (Article 136) stipulates that, if more than half of its members are replaced, the cabinet may not meet or act before the Majlis approves the revised membership.[74] The vice chairman of the Majlis announced that no cabinet meetings or decisions would be legal, pending such a re-approval.[75]

On 4 September 2009, the Majlis approved 18 of the 21 cabinet candidates, and rejected three, including two women. Sousan Keshavarz, Mohammad Aliabadi, and Fatemeh Ajorlou were not approved by Majlis for the Ministries of Education, Energy, and Welfare and Social Security, respectively. Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi was the first woman approved by the Majlis as a minister in the Islamic Republic of Iran.[76]

2012 parliamentary elections

Ahmadinejad suffered a defeat in March/May 2012 parliamentary elections with Ayatollah Khamenei's "Principalist" allies winning about three quarters of the parliaments 290 seats, and Ahmadinejad supporters far fewer.[77]

Domestic policy

Economic policy

See also: Economy of Iran

In Ahmadinejad's first four years as president, Iran's real GDP reflected growth of the economy. Inflation and unemployment also decreased under Ahmadinejad due to better economic management and ending the unsustainable spending and borrowing patterns of previous administrations .[78] Ahmadinejad increased spending by 25% and supported subsidies for food and petrol. He also initially refused a gradual increase of petrol prices, saying that after making necessary preparations, such as a development of public transportation system, the government would free up petrol prices after five years.[79] Interest rates were cut by presidential decree to below the inflation rate. One unintended effect of this stimulation of the economy has been the bidding up of some urban real estate prices by two or three times their pre-Ahmadinejad value by Iranians seeking to invest surplus cash and finding few other safe opportunities. The resulting increase in the cost of housing hurt poorer, non-property owning Iranians, the putative beneficiaries of Ahmadinejad's populist policies.[80] The Management and Planning Organisation, a state body charged with mapping out long-term economic and budget strategy, was broken up and its experienced managers were fired.[81]

In June 2006, 50 Iranian economists wrote a letter to Ahmadinejad that criticized his price interventions to stabilize prices of goods, cement, government services, and his decree issued by the High Labor Council and the Ministry of Labor that proposed an increase of workers' salaries by 40%. Ahmadinejad publicly responded harshly to the letter and denounced the accusations.[82][83] Ahmadinejad called for "middle-of-the-road" compromises with respect to Western-oriented capitalism and socialism. Current political conflicts with the United States caused the central bank to fear increased capital flight due to global isolation. These factors prevented an improvement of infrastructure and capital influx, despite high economic potential.[78] Among those that did not vote for him in the first election, only 3.5% said they would consider voting for him in the next election.[84] Mohammad Khoshchehreh, a member of the Iranian parliament that campaigned for Ahmadinejad, said that his government "has been strong on populist slogans, but weak on achievement."[85]

President Ahmadinejad changed almost all of his economic ministers, including oil, industry and economy, since coming to power in 2005. In an interview with Fars News Agency in April 2008, Davoud Danesh Jaafari who acted as minister of economy in Ahmadinejad's cabinet, harshly criticized his economic policy: "During my time, there was no positive attitude towards previous experiences or experienced people and there was no plan for the future. Peripheral issues which were not of dire importance to the nation were given priority. Most of the scientific economic concepts like the effect of liquidity on inflation were put in question."[86] In response to these criticisms, Ahmadinejad accused his minister of not being "a man of justice" and declared that the solution to Iran's economic problem is "the culture of martyrdom".[87] In May 2008, the petroleum minister of Iran admitted that the government illegally invested 2 billion dollars to import petrol in 2007. At Iranian parliament, he also mentioned that he simply followed the president's order.[88]

While his government had 275 thousand billion toman oil income, the highest in Iranian history, Ahmadinejad's government had the highest budget deficit since the Iranian revolution.[89]

During his presidency, Ahmadinejad launched a gasoline rationing plan to reduce the country's fuel consumption. He also instituted cuts in the interest rates that private and public banking facilities could charge.[25][26][90] He issued a directive that the Management and Planning Organization be affiliated to the government.[91] In May 2011, Ahmadinejad announced that he would temporarily run the Oil Ministry.[92]

Family planning and population policy

See also: Family planning in Iran

In October 2006, Ahmadinejad began calling for the scrapping of Iran's existing birth-control policies which discouraged Iranian couples from having more than two children. He told MPs that Iran could cope with 50 million more people than the current 70 million. In November 2010, he urged Iranians to marry and reproduce earlier: "We should take the age of marriage for boys to 20 and for girls to about 16 and 17."[93] His remarks have drawn criticism and been called ill-judged at a time when Iran was struggling with surging inflation and rising unemployment, estimated at around 11%. Ahmadinejad's call was reminiscent of a call for Iranians to have more children made by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979. The policy had increased Iran's population by 16 million in seven years[51]: 321  but had eventually been reversed in response to the resultant economic strain.[94]

In 2008, the government sent the "Family Protection Bill" to the Iranian parliament. Women's rights activists criticized the bill for removing protections from women, such as the requirement that a husband obtain his wife's consent before marrying a second wife. Women's rights in Iran are more religiously based than those in secular countries.[95]

Housing

See also: Construction industry of Iran § Mehr Housing Scheme

The first legislation to emerge from his newly formed government was a 12 trillion rial (US$1.3 billion) fund called "Reza's Compassion Fund",[96] named after Shi'a Imam Ali al-Rida. Ahmadinejad's government said this fund would tap Iran's oil revenues to help young people get jobs, afford marriage, and buy their own homes.[97] The fund also sought charitable donations, with a board of trustees in each of Iran's 30 provinces. The legislation was a response to the cost of urban housing, which is pushing up the national average marital age (currently around 25 years for women and 28 years for men). In 2006 the Iranian parliament rejected the fund; however, Ahmadinejad ordered the administrative council to execute the plan.[96]

Human rights

See also: Human rights in Iran
 
Ahmadinejad speaking at Columbia University, September 2007

According to a report by Human Rights Watch, "Since President Ahmadinejad came to power, treatment of detainees has worsened in Evin Prison as well as in detention centers operated clandestinely by the Judiciary, the Ministry of Information, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps."[98]: 464  Human Rights Watch also has stated, "Respect for basic human rights in Iran, especially freedom of expression and assembly, deteriorated in 2006. The government routinely tortures and mistreats detained dissidents, including through prolonged solitary confinement."[98]: 463  Human Rights Watch described the source of human rights violations in contemporary Iran as coming from the Judiciary, accountable to Ali Khamenei, and from members directly appointed by Ahmadinejad.[citation needed]

Responses to dissent have varied. Human Rights Watch writes that "the Ahmadinejad government, in a pronounced shift from the policy under former president Mohammed Khatami, has shown no tolerance for peaceful protests and gatherings." In December 2006, Ahmadinejad advised officials not to disturb students who engaged in a protest during a speech of his at the Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran,[99][100] although speakers at other protests have included among their complaints that there had been a crackdown on dissent at universities since Ahmadinejad was elected.[101]

In April 2007, the Tehran police, which is under Khamenei's supervision, began a crackdown on women with "improper hijab". This led to criticism from associates of Ahmadinejad.[102]

In 2012, Ahmadinejad claimed that AIDS was created by the West in order to weaken poorer countries, and repeated a previous claim that homosexual Iranians did not exist.[103] He has also described homosexuality as "ugly".[104][105]

Universities

See also: Higher education in Iran

In 2006, the Ahmadinejad[106] government reportedly forced numerous Iranian scientists and university professors to resign or to retire. It has been referred to as the "second cultural revolution".[107][108] The policy has been said to replace old professors with younger ones.[109] Some university professors received letters indicating their early retirement unexpectedly.[110] In November 2006, 53 university professors had to retire from Iran University of Science and Technology.[111]

In 2006, Ahmadinejad's government applied a 50% quota for male students and 50% for female students in the university entrance exam for medicine, dentistry and pharmacy. The plan was supposed to stop the growing presence of female students in the universities. In a response to critics, Iranian minister of health and medical education, Kamran Bagheri Lankarani argued that there are not enough facilities such as dormitories for female students.[citation needed] Masoud Salehi, president of Zahedan University said that presence of women generates some problems with transportation.[citation needed] Also, Ebrahim Mekaniki, president of Babol University of Medical Sciences, stated that an increase in the presence of women will make it difficult to distribute facilities in a suitable manner.[citation needed] Bagher Larijani, the president of Tehran University of Medical Sciences made similar remarks.[citation needed] According to Rooz Online, the quotas lack a legal foundation and are justified as support for "family" and "religion".[citation needed]

December 2006 student protest

In December 2006, it was reported that some students were angry about the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust, which they saw as promoting Holocaust denial.[112]

In response to the students' slogans, the president said: "We have been standing up to dictatorship so that no one will dare to establish dictatorship in a millennium even in the name of freedom. Given the scars inflicted on the Iranian nation by agents of the US and British dictatorship, no one will ever dare to initiate the rise of a dictator."[113] It was reported that even though the protesters broke the TV cameras and threw hand-made bombs at Ahmadinejad,[114] the president asked the officials not to question or disturb the protesters.[99][100] In his blog, Ahmadinejad described his reaction to the incident as "a feeling of joy" because of the freedom that people enjoyed after the revolution.[115]

One thousand students also protested the day before to denounce the increased pressure on the reformist groups at the university. One week prior, more than two thousand students protested at Tehran University on the country's annual student day, with speakers saying that there had been a crackdown on dissent at universities since Ahmadinejad was elected.[112][116]

Nuclear program

See also: Nuclear program of Iran

Ahmadinejad has been a vocal supporter of Iran's nuclear program, and has insisted that it is for peaceful purposes. He has repeatedly emphasized that building a nuclear bomb is not the policy of his government. He has said that such a policy is "illegal and against our religion".[117][118] He also added at a January 2006 conference in Tehran that a nation with "culture, logic and civilization" would not need nuclear weapons, and that countries that seek nuclear weapons are those that want to solve all problems by the use of force.[119]

In April 2006, Ahmadinejad announced that Iran had successfully refined uranium to a stage suitable for the nuclear fuel cycle. In a speech to students and academics in Mashhad, he was quoted as saying that Iran's conditions had changed completely as it had become a nuclear state and could talk to other states from that stand.[120] On 13 April 2006, Iran's news agency, Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that the peaceful Iranian nuclear technology would not pose a threat to any party because "we want peace and stability and we will not cause injustice to anyone and at the same time we will not submit to injustice."[121] Nevertheless, Iran's nuclear policy under Ahmadinejad's administration received much criticism, spearheaded by the United States and Israel. The accusations include that Iran is striving to obtain nuclear arms and developing long-range firing capabilities—and that Ahmadinejad issued an order to keep UN inspectors from freely visiting the nation's nuclear facilities and viewing their designs, in defiance of an IAEA resolution.[122][123][124][125] Following a May 2009 test launch of a long-range missile, Ahmadinejad was quoted as telling the crowd that with its nuclear program, Iran was sending the West a message that "the Islamic Republic of Iran is running the show."[126]

Despite Ahmadinejad's vocal support for the program, the office of the Iranian president is not directly responsible for nuclear policy. It is instead set by the Supreme National Security Council. The council includes two representatives appointed by the Supreme Leader, military officials, and members of the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of government, and reports directly to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons in 2005.[127] Khamenei has criticized Ahmadinejad's "personalization" of the nuclear issue.[128]

Ahmadinejad vowed in February 2008 that Iran will not be held back from developing its peaceful nuclear program.[129]

In October 2009, the United States, France, and Russia proposed a U.N.-drafted deal with Iran regarding its nuclear program, in an effort to find a compromise between Iran's stated need for a nuclear reactor and the concerns of those who are worried that Iran harbors a secret intent of developing a nuclear weapon. After some delay in responding, on 29 October, Ahmadinejad seemed to change his tone towards the deal. "We welcome fuel exchange, nuclear co-operation, building of power plants and reactors and we are ready to co-operate," he said in a live broadcast on state television.[130] He added that Iran would not retreat "one iota" on its right to a sovereign nuclear program.[131]

Domestic criticism and controversies

Accusations of corruption

See also: 2011 Iranian embezzlement scandal and Iran Insurance embezzlement case

According to Brussels-based NGO International Crisis Group, Ahmadinejad has been criticized for attacking private "plunderers" and "corrupt officials", while engaging in "cronyism and political favouritism". Many of his close associates were appointed to positions for which they have no obvious qualifications, and "billion dollar no-bid contracts" were awarded to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an organization with which he is strongly associated.[132]

According to Najmeh Bozorgmehr of the Financial Times, "Iran has a long history of cronyism and corruption under its monarchies and the Islamic Republic. But the scale of corruption under Mr. Ahmadinejad was of a different order, according to both reform-minded and conservative politicians."[133]

Other statements

 
Participants of the second Caspian Summit in October 2007. From left to right: President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev, President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbaev, President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

In June 2007, Ahmadinejad was criticized by some Iranian parliament members over his remark about Christianity and Judaism. According to Aftab News Agency, Ahmadinejad stated: "In the world, there are deviations from the right path: Christianity and Judaism. Dollars have been devoted to the propagation of these deviations. There are also false claims that these [religions] will save mankind. But Islam is the only religion that [can] save mankind." Some members of Iranian parliament criticized these remarks as being fuels to religious war.[134][135]

Conservative MP Rafat Bayat has accused Ahmadinejad for a decline in observance of the required hijab for women, calling him "not that strict on this issue".[136] Ahmadinejad was also accused of indecency by people close to Rafsanjani,[137] after he publicly kissed the hand of a woman who used to be his school teacher.[138]

The UN and football stadiums

There are two statements that led to criticism from some religious authorities. One concerns his speech at the United Nations, and the other concerns the attendance of women at football matches. During a visit to group of Ayatollahs in Qom after returning from his 2005 speech to the UN General Assembly, Ahmadinejad stated he had "felt a halo over his head" during his speech and that a hidden presence had mesmerized the unblinking audience of foreign leaders, foreign ministers, and ambassadors. Ahmadinejad closed his speech with a call for the "mighty Lord" to "hasten the emergence" of Imam Mahdi.[139] According to Iranian-American journalist Hooman Majd, the response given to Ahmadinejad at the assembly was offensive to the conservative religious leaders because an ordinary man cannot presume a special closeness to God or any of the Imams, nor can he imply the presence of the Mahdi.[140]

In another statement in 2006, Ahmadinejad proclaimed (without consulting the clerics beforehand), that women be allowed into football stadiums to watch male football clubs compete. This proclamation "was quickly overruled" by clerical authorities, one of whom, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Fazel Lankarani "refused for weeks to meet with President Ahmadinejad" in early 2007.[140]

Constitutional conflict

In 2008, a serious conflict emerged between the Iranian President and the head of parliament over three laws approved by the Iranian parliament: "the agreement for civil and criminal legal cooperation between Iran and Kyrgyzstan", "the agreement to support mutual investment between Iran and Kuwait", and "the law for registration of industrial designs and trademarks". The conflict was so serious that the Iranian leader stepped in to resolve it. Ahmadinejad wrote a letter to the parliamentary speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, furiously denouncing him for the "inexplicable act" of bypassing the presidency by giving the order to implement legislation in an official newspaper.[citation needed] Ahmadinejad accused the head of parliament of violating Iranian constitutional law. He called for legal action against the parliament speaker.[141] Haddad-Adel responded to Ahmadinejad accusing him of using inappropriate language in his remarks and letters.[142]

Ali Kordan

Main article: Ali Kordan

In August 2008, Ahmadinejad appointed Ali Kordan as interior minister. Kordan's appointment was heavily criticized by Iranian parliamentarians, media and analysts after it came to light that a doctoral degree purportedly awarded to Kordan was fabricated, and that the putative issuer of the degree, Oxford University, had no record of Kordan receiving any degree from the University.[143] It was also revealed that he had been jailed in 1978 for moral charges.[144]

In November 2008, Ahmadinejad announced that he was against impeachment of Kordan by Iranian parliament. He refused to attend the parliament on the impeachment day.[145] Kordan was expelled from office by Iranian parliament on 4 November 2008. 188 MPs voted against him. An impeachment of Kordan would push Ahmadinejad close to having to submit his entire cabinet for review by parliament, which was led by one of his chief political opponents. Iran's constitution requires that step if more than half the cabinet ministers are replaced, and Ahmadinejad replaced nine of 21 until that date.[146][147]

Conflict with Parliament

 
Ahmadinejad speaking in the Majlis, Chairman Ali Larijani is also pictured

In February 2009, after Supreme Audit Court of Iran reported that $1.058 billion of surplus oil revenue in the (2006–2007) budget hadn't been returned by the government to the national treasury,[148] Tensions between Larijani and Ahmadinejad continued into 2013.[149]

Ahmadinejad criticized the National Audit Office for what he called its "carelessness", saying the report "incites the people" against the government.[150]

In May 2011, several members of parliament threatened to initiate impeachment proceedings against Ahmadinejad after his merger of eight government ministries and the firing of three ministers without parliament's consent. According to the Majles news website, MP Mohammad Reza Bahonar stated, "legal purging starts with questions, which lead to warnings and end with impeachment." On 25 May, parliament voted to investigate another allegation, that Ahmadinejad had committed election irregularities by giving cash to up to nine million Iranians before the 2009 presidential elections. The vote came within hours after the allegations appeared in several popular conservative news sites associated with supreme leader Ali Khamenei, suggesting the supreme leader supported the investigation.[151] The disputes were seen as part of the clash between Ahmadinejad and other conservatives and former supporters, including supreme leader Khamenei, over what the conservatives see as Ahmadinejad's confrontational policies and abuse of power.[151][152]

Relations with Supreme Leader of Iran

 
Ahmadinejad with Ali Khamenei, Ali Larijani and Sadeq Larijani in 2011

Early in his presidency, Ahmadinejad was sometimes described as "enjoy[ing] the full backing" of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei,[153] and even as being his "protege".[154] In Ahmadinejad's 2005 inauguration the supreme leader allowed Ahmadinejad to kiss his hand and cheeks in what was called "a sign of closeness and loyalty",[155] and after the 2009 election fully endorsed Ahmadinejad against protesters; however, as early as January 2008, signs of disagreement between the two men developed over domestic policies,[153] and by the period of 2010–11 several sources detected a "growing rift" between them.[156][32] The disagreement was described as centered on Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a top adviser and close confidant of Ahmadinejad[33] and opponent of "greater involvement of clerics in politics",[157] who was first vice president of Iran until being ordered to resign from the cabinet by the supreme leader.

In 2009, Ahmadinejad dismissed Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i, an opponent of Mashaei. In April 2011, another Intelligence minister, Heydar Moslehi, resigned after being asked to by Ahmadinejad, but was reinstated by the supreme leader within hours.[154][158] Ahmadinejad declined to officially back Moslehi's reinstatement for two weeks and in protest engaged in an "11-day walkout" of cabinet meetings, religious ceremonies, and other official functions.[32][158] Ahmadinejad's actions led to angry public attacks by clerics, parliamentarians and military commanders, who accused him of ignoring orders from the supreme leader.[33] Conservative opponents in parliament launched an "impeachment drive" against him,[157] four websites with ties to Ahmadinejad reportedly were "filtered and blocked",[154] and several people "said to be close" to the president and Mashaei (such as Abbas Amirifar and Mohammed Sharif Malekzadeh) were arrested on charges of being "magicians" and invoking djinns.[32] On 6 May 2011, it was reported that Ahmadinejad had been given an ultimatum to accept the leader's intervention or resign,[159] and on 8 May, he "apparently bowed" to the reinstatement, welcoming back Moslehi to a cabinet meeting.[160] The events have been said to have "humiliated and weakened" Ahmadinejad, though the president denied that there had been any rift between the two,[33] and according to the semiofficial Fars News Agency, he stated that his relationship with the supreme leader "is that of a father and a son".[157]

In 2012, Khamenei ordered a halt to a parliamentary inquiry into Ahmadinejad's mishandling of the Iranian economy.[161] In 2016, Khamenei advised Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, his former ally with whom his relationship was strained after Ahmadinejad accused his son Mojtaba Khamenei of embezzling from the state treasury,[162] to not run for president again.[163][164][165][166][167]

Hugo Chávez's funeral

Ahmadinejad was criticised by the religious and political groups in Iran for photographs taken of him embracing Elena Frias de Chávez, the mother of recently deceased Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, at his funeral. In the image, Ahmadinejad was thought to be holding her hands and in a cheek-to-cheek embrace; such an act, touching an unrelated woman, is considered haraam (forbidden) in some interpretations of Islam.[168][169] Iranian government officials responded by stating that the image was a fake, then released a second photo showing Ahmadinejad in the same pose, but in this case hugging a man.[170] This later photograph was debunked when it was discovered that the other man was Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei, who had not been at the funeral.[170]

Nepotism

One of the most frequent criticisms about Ahmadinejad was the nepotism in his governments. Nepotism was one of his habits in appointing senior government officials.[171][172] His elder brother, Davoud, was appointed chief inspector at the presidency in 2005 and was in office until 2008.[173][174] His sister, Parvin, served at the presidential's women's center.[171] His nephew, Ali Akbar Mehrabian, served as the mining and industry minister in his cabinet.[171] His daughter's father-in-law, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, served at several senior positions.[174][175] His brother-in-law, Masoud Zaribafan, served as cabinet secretary.[173]

Foreign relations

Main article: Foreign policy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
 
Countries visited by President Ahmadinejad during his terms in office

During Ahmadinejad's tenure as President of Iran the foreign policy of the country took a different approach from the previous administration. Relations with developed countries generally soured while relations with less-developed countries, including those in Africa and Latin America, rose. In light of the calls for sanctions on Iran for its nuclear weapons programme, Ahmadinejad and his foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, traveled extensively throughout the two regions, as well as hosted other leaders. Relations with the ALBA states, and Venezuela, Bolivia, and Ecuador, in particular, were most strengthened. Relations with America during the Bush administration and Israel deteriorated further.[citation needed]

Ahmadinejad is an outspoken critic of the Western world and is often criticized for his hostility towards the United States, Israel, the United Kingdom and other Western nations.[176][177]

Israel

Main article: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Israel
 
Ahmadinejad with leaders of the Caspian sea bordering nations

Ahmadinejad abides by Iran's long-standing policy of refusing to recognize Israel as a legitimate state, and wants the Jewish people who immigrated to Israel to return to their "fatherlands" (translated).[178]

In 2005, Ahmadinejad, in a speech praising the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini, was translated by Iranian state-run media as saying that "Israel must be wiped off the map."[179][180][181] A controversy erupted over the translation, with specialists such as Juan Cole of the University of Michigan and Arash Norouzi of the Mossadegh Project pointing out that the original statement in Farsi did not say that Israel should be wiped off the map, but instead that it would collapse.[182][183][184] The words 'Israel', 'map', and 'to wipe off' are non-existent in the Iranian speech's original. According to another IRNA translation, on the occasion of a commemoration of the anniversary of Khomeini's death on 3 June 2008, Ahmadinejad stated that "The corrupt element will be wiped off the map."[185] Contextually, Ahmadinejad was quoting Khomeini's words about the imminent disappearance of the Soviet Union and the Shah's regime, and tacked on his remarks concerning Israel. In Katajun Amirpur's analysis, there is no implication in the text that Iran intended destroying Israel or annihilating the Jewish people, any more than Khomeini was suggesting with his words that the Russians, or the Iranian people themselves under the Shah would be extinguished.[185] Ahmadinejad is on the record as stating that Iran had no plans to attack Israel.[185] The statement itself was in fact a citation, with a minute verbal variation, of a remark made by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, which had created no furor at the time, but did so when Ahmadinejad quoted them in 2005.[186]

Dan Meridor, Israel's minister of intelligence and atomic energy said during an Al Jazeera interview that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had repeatedly said "that Israel is an unnatural creature, it will not survive. They didn't say, 'We'll wipe it out,' you're right, but, 'It will not survive.'" adding "If Iran says this, and continues to pile up uranium that they enrich, and build missiles in big numbers, and have a nuclear military plan—if you put all this together, you can't say, they don't really mean it."[187] The Washington Post's fact-checker editor Glenn Kessler says the interpretation gets murkier when Ahmadinejad's quote is set against other Iranian propaganda. Karim Sadjadpour, an Iranian specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, cites proof that the Iranian government releases propaganda that clearly says Israel should be "wiped off". Joshua Teitelbaum of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs discovered pictures of Iranian propaganda banners that clearly say in English: "Israel should be wiped out of the face of the world."[188][189] In March 2016, Iran tested a ballistic missile painted with the phrase "Israel should be wiped off the Earth" in Hebrew. The missile is reported to be capable of reaching Israel.[190][191][192][193]

The Official Web site of the President of Iran quoted Ahmadinejad as saying on 15 May 2011 "The reason for our insistence that the Zionist regime should be wiped out and vanished is that the Zionist regime is the main base for imposing oppression and harbors the main terrorists of the world."[194]

Holocaust denial controversy

He was strongly criticized after claiming that the Jews invented the Holocaust[195] and making other statements influenced by "classic anti-Semitic ideas",[196] which has led to accusations of antisemitism.[197] Ahmadinejad denied that he was an antisemite, saying that he "respects Jews very much" and that he was not "passing judgment" on the Holocaust.[177][198][199][200] Later, Ahmadinejad claimed that promoting Holocaust denial was a major achievement of his presidency; he stated that "put[ting] it forward at the global level ... broke the spine of the Western capitalist regime". The comments appeared on the Arabic but not on the English version of Fars News Agency's website.[201]

Palestine

 
Demonstration against Ahmadinejad during the Rio+20 conference in Brazil

Ahmadinejad advocates "free elections" for the region, and believes Palestinians need a stronger voice in the region's future.[202] On Quds Day in September 2010 he criticized the Palestinian Authority over its president's decision to renew direct peace talks with Israel saying the talks are "stillborn" and "doomed to fail", urging the Palestinians to continue armed resistance to Israel.[203][204] He said that Mahmoud Abbas had no authority to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinians.[205][206] Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, fired back, saying, Ahmadinejad "does not represent the Iranian people, ..., is not entitled to talk about Palestine, or the President of Palestine"[207][208]

United States

In September 2010, Ahmadinejad made a contentious assertion at the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly by claiming that most people believe the United States government was behind the 9/11 attacks and later called for an inquiry, stating: "The fact-finding mission can shed light on who the perpetrators were, who is al-Qaeda ... where does it exist? Who was it backed by and supported? All these should come to light."[209][210] The speech triggered many countries' United Nations representatives to walk out, and US President Barack Obama described the claims as "inexcusable", "offensive" and "hateful".[211] In 2010, Ahmadinejad reiterated the 9/11 conspiracy, and wrote:

Establishing an independent and impartial committee of investigation, which would determine the roots and causes of the regrettable event of 9/11, is the demand of all the peoples of the region and the world. ... Any opposition to this legal and human demand means that 9/11 was premeditated in order to achieve the goals of occupation and of confrontation with the nations.[212]

He made similar comments at the 66th session in September 2011.[213][214]

Venezuela

Ahmadinejad is said to have "forged a close public friendship" with Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. On Chavez's death in March 2013, Ahmadinejad posted a condolence message on his website stating, "I have no doubt that he [Chavez] will return alongside Jesus Christ and Mahdi to establish peace and justice in the world".[215]

Ahmad Khatami a senior Iranian cleric said that Ahmadinejad went "too far" with his comments. Hossein Rouhaninejad of Iran's Islamic development organisation said the president's remarks were against Shia Islam beliefs. Another senior cleric, Seyed Mahdi rebuke Ahmadinejad saying his comments were "legally and religiously wrong".[216][217]

 
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chávez in July 2006

After presidency

 
Ahmadinejad in his presidential museum, known as Office of the Former President of Islamic Republic of Iran

Ahmadinejad left his office at Pasteur St. on 3 August 2013 and returned to his private house in Narmak.[218]

In an interview with CNN, Ahmadinejad said that, after the end of his presidency, he would return to the university and retire from politics; however, Ahmadinejad announced from Russia on the sidelines of an OPEC summit on 2 July 2013 that he might stay involved with politics by creating a new party or non-governmental organization.[219] In late July, Mehr news agency reported that Ahmadinejad obtained permission from the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council to launch a university for post-graduate studies in Tehran.[220] On 5 August 2013, the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued a decree appointing Ahmadinejad as a member of the Expediency Council.[221] On 15 June 2015, a number of Ahmadinejad's cabinet ministers established a new political party, called YEKTA Front. The party published list for 2016 legislative election and some of Ahmadinejad's cabinet members (like Hamid-Reza Haji Babaee, Sadeq Khalilian, Mohammad Abbasi and Mahmoud Bahmani) registered for the election, but Ahmadinejad did not support any list in the election.[citation needed]

2017 presidential election

It was rumored that Ahmadinejad would run for presidency again in 2017 after he did not deny plans when questioned by the media in 2015.[222] Ahmadinejad remained mostly out of the public eye since leaving office, but his anti-Western rhetoric and combative style remained popular among many Iranian Principlists, and he was widely viewed as among the most formidable political figures capable of unseating Hassan Rouhani. In December 2015, it was reported that he had begun his presidential campaign by appointing his campaign's chiefs. He also began provincial travels in April 2016 by traveling to Amol. Travels were continued until September 2016, when he traveled to Gorgan.[223] Ahmadinejad's advisors said his travels were not electoral and he only delivered speeches due to public demand.[224] In September 2016, it was rumored that Ahmadinejad had asked Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, for permission to run for the office and was rejected by Khamenei, who said that it was not in the best interests of Iran.[225][226] On 26 September 2016, Ayatollah Khamenei confirmed the news, stated that it was only advice, not an order.[227] It was the first time since Khamenei's election as Supreme Leader in 1989 that he advised a person to not run for election. Formerly, some candidates had asked him for advice (former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani for his campaign in 2005 and 2013), but Khamenei chose to not give his opinion on those occasions. The following day, Ahmadinejad officially announced he would not run in the upcoming 2017 presidential election.[228] He later supported Hamid Baghaei's candidacy.[229] However, Ahmadinejad registered as presidential candidate on 12 April 2017.[36] He was disqualified by the Guardian Council on 20 April 2017, making him the second person after Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to be barred from running the office for a third term.[230]

2017–18 Iranian protests

During the 2017–18 Iranian protests Ahmadinejad criticized the current government of Iran and later supreme leader Ali Khamenei.[231]

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine

On 2 March 2022, Ahmadinejad expressed his support for Ukraine and the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. On Twitter, he stated that Iran stands with Ukraine and expressed his admiration of the Ukrainian resistance, while claiming that "the resistance uncovered the Satanic plots of enemies of mankind." He also warned the President of Russia Vladimir Putin that if he fails to stop the invasion, he would have "no achievement" to show for it, only remorse. Ahmadinejad's views on the Russian invasion are in stark contrast to the official pro-Russian stance of the Government of Iran, which blamed NATO and the United States for instigating the war.[232][233][234]

Party affiliation

See also: Deviant current

Ahmadinejad has been an active and prominent member of the right-wing Islamic Society of Engineers since its establishment until 2005.[235] As of 2014, he is still a member of the party but is not active since 2005.[236] He was also a founding member of the Society of Devotees of the Islamic Revolution,[237] but left in 2011.[238]

Since 2005, Ahmadinejad has introduced himself as non-partisan, even anti-party and did not try to gain support of political parties despite being supported by the conservative camp.[citation needed] A National Democratic Institute report published in 2009 states that Ahmadinejad is self-described "Principlist".[239]

Public image

Ahmadinejad is known for his vulgarism, undiplomatic language and usage of slang terms.[240] He is active on Twitter, where he engages his followers primarily in English and tweets about sports, the United States, and current events.[241][242]

According to a poll conducted by Information and Public Opinion Solutions LLC (iPOS) in March 2016, Ahmadinejad was the least popular political figure in Iran. He had 57% approval and 39% disapproval ratings, thus a +18% net popularity.[243]

Polls conducted by Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) and IranPoll with ±3.2% margin of error shows his approval rating as follows:[244]

Date Very favorable Somewhat favorable Somewhat unfavorable Very unfavorable Don't recognize the name DK/NA
July 2014 34% 33% 14.0% 16.0% 1.0% 3.0%
August 2015 27.5%   33.5%   13.0%   22.8%   0.2% 3.0%
January 2016 24.2%   32.8%   15.0%   23.9%   0.4% 3.7%
June 2016 28.0%   37.3%   14.9%   16.1%   0.4% 3.3%
December 2016 27.2%   33.6%   13.9%   19.5%   0.4% 5.4%

Electoral history

Main article: Electoral history of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
 
Ahmadinejad casting his vote in 2016 elections
Year Election Votes % Rank Notes
1999 City Council of Tehran Lost
2000 Parliament 280,046 9.55 68th Lost
2005 President 5,711,696 19.43 2nd Went to run-off
President run off   17,284,782   61.69 1st Won
2009 President   24,527,516   62.63 1st Won
2017 President — Disqualified
2021 President — Disqualified

Personal life

Ahmadinejad is married, and has one daughter and two sons.[245] His elder son married a daughter of Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei in 2008.[246][247]

Supporters of Ahmadinejad consider him a simple man who leads a modest life.[248] As president, he wanted to continue living in the same house in Tehran his family had been living in until his security advisers insisted that he should move. Ahmadinejad had the antique Persian carpets in the Presidential palace sent to a carpet museum, and opted instead to use inexpensive carpets. He is said to have refused the VIP seat on the Presidential plane, and that he eventually replaced it with a cargo plane instead.[47][249] Upon gaining Iran's presidency, Ahmadinejad held his first cabinet meeting in the Imam Reza shrine at Mashhad, an act perceived as "pious".[250] He also used to lay an extra place for the 12th Imam at his weekly cabinet briefings.[251]

See also

References

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Notes

  1. ^ At the time, Revolutionary Guards rejected official ranks for its members and commanders were simply referred to with honorifics such as "brother" or "pasdar" (guard).[9]
  2. ^ The -[e] is the Izāfa, which is a grammatical marker linking two words together. It is not indicated in writing, and is not part of the name itself, but is pronounced in Persian language when a first and last name are used together.
  3. ^ Kasra Naji says that the name was 'Sabaghian,' which means 'dye-masters' in Persian.[42]
  4. ^ In 2009, some media reports claimed that Sabourjian is a common Iranian Jewish name, and that Sabor is the name for the Jewish tallit (prayer shawl) in Persia.[43] Meir Javedanfar, a blogger at The Guardian, disputed this claim, citing experts.[44]

Further reading

  • Encyclopedia of World Biography: Supplement #27 (Thomson-Gale, 2007) pp 7–9
  • Harris, David (2004), The Crisis: the President, the Prophet, and the Shah—1979 and the Coming of Militant Islam, New York: Little, Brown, ISBN 978-0-316-32394-9
  • "Referral of Iranian President Ahmadinejad on the Charge of Incitement to Commit Genocide" by Justus Reid Weiner, Esq., with Amb. Meir Rosenne, Prof. Elie Wiesel, Amb. Dore Gold, Irit Kohn, Adv., Amb. Eytan Bentsur, and MK Dan Naveh
  • Ali Rahnema, Superstition as Ideology in Iranian Politics: From Majlesi to Ahmadinejad, Cambridge University Press, 2011 (Reviewed in The Montréal Review) ISBN 978-0-521-18221-8

External links

  • Biography (in Spanish) at CIDOB Foundation
  • Video Archive of Ahmadinejad during his presidency at Irannegah.com
  • Appearances on C-SPAN
  • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Twitter  
  • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Telegram
  • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Instagram
  • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at IMDb
  • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad collected news and commentary at The Guardian  
  • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad collected news and commentary at Ha'aretz
  • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad collected news and commentary at The Jerusalem Post
  • Mahmoud Ahmadinejad collected news and commentary at The New York Times
  • People Who Mattered: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Time, 16 December 2006
  • The Results As They Came In, Andrew Sullivan, The Atlantic, 13 June 2009
Political offices
New district Governor of Ardabil Province
1993–1997 		Succeeded by
Hamid Tahayi
Preceded by Mayor of Tehran
2003–2005 		Succeeded by
Preceded by President of Iran
2005–2013 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
New title
Organization established
 Head of Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran's Election Headquarters
2003 local elections 		Succeeded by
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by Chairperson of the Group of 15
2006–2010 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement
2012–2013 		Succeeded by
Military offices
Preceded by Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Armed Forces
2005–2013 		Succeeded by

May 30, 2023
mahmoud, ahmadinejad, persian, محمود, احمدی, نژاد, romanized, mahmūd, ahmadīnežād, mæhmuːd, æhmædiːneʒɒːd, listen, born, mahmoud, sabbaghian, persian, محمود, صباغیان, romanized, mahmoud, sabbāghyān, october, 1956, iranian, principlist, nationalist, politician,. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Persian محمود احمدی نژاد romanized Mahmud Ahmadinezad maehmuːd e aehmaediːneʒɒːd listen b 10 11 born Mahmoud Sabbaghian 5 Persian محمود صباغیان romanized Mahmoud Sabbaghyan 28 October 1956 12 13 is an Iranian principlist and nationalist politician who served as the sixth president of Iran from 2005 to 2013 He is currently a member of the Expediency Discernment Council He was known for his hardline views and nuclearisation of Iran He was also the main political leader of the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran a coalition of conservative political groups in the country and served as mayor of Tehran from 2003 to 2005 reversing many of his predecessor s reforms Mahmoud Ahmadinejadمحمود احمدی نژادAhmadinejad in 2019Member of Expediency Discernment CouncilIncumbentAssumed office 5 August 2013 1 Appointed byAli KhameneiChairmanAkbar Hashemi RafsanjaniAli Movahedi Kermani Acting Mahmoud Hashemi ShahroudiSadeq LarijaniPreceded byHassan Rouhani6th President of IranIn office 3 August 2005 3 August 2013Supreme LeaderAli KhameneiFirst Vice PresidentParviz DavoodiEsfandiar Rahim MashaeiMohammad Reza RahimiPreceded byMohammad KhatamiSucceeded byHassan RouhaniActing ministerial officesMinister of PetroleumActing 2 In office 16 May 2011 2 June 2011PresidentHimselfPreceded byMasoud Mir KazemiSucceeded byMohammad Aliabadi Acting Minister of IntelligenceActing 3 In office 25 July 2009 3 September 2009PresidentHimselfPreceded byGholam Hossein Mohseni Eje iSucceeded byHeydar MoslehiMayor of TehranIn office 20 May 2003 4 28 June 2005Preceded byMohammad Hossein Moghimi Acting Succeeded byAli Saeedlou Acting Governor of Ardabil ProvinceIn office 28 November 1993 29 October 1997PresidentAkbar Hashemi RafsanjaniPreceded byProvince createdSucceeded bySeyyed Hamid TahayiSecretary General of the Non Aligned MovementIn office 30 August 2012 3 August 2013Preceded byMohamed MorsiSucceeded byHassan RouhaniPersonal detailsBornMahmoud Sabbaghian 5 1956 10 28 28 October 1956 age 66 Aradan Imperial State of IranPolitical partySociety of Devotees 1999 2011 Islamic Society of Engineers 1988 present inactive since 2005 Other politicalaffiliationsAlliance of Builders 2003 2005 Office for Strengthening Unity 1979 1980 SpouseAzam al Sadat Farahi m 1980 wbr Children3RelativesDavoud Ahmadinejad brother Parvin Ahmadinejad sister Residence s Square 72 Narmak Tehran 6 Alma materIran University of Science and Technology BS PhD OccupationUniversity professorProfessionEngineerSignatureWebsiteOfficial websiteMilitary serviceAllegianceIranBranch serviceRevolutionary GuardsYears of service1986 1988 7 8 RankNone a UnitHamzeh Headquarters 7 CommandsCombat engineering Unit 6th Special Division 8 Battles warsIran Iraq War Operation Fath 1Academic backgroundThesesStudy of comprehensive transportation plan in Kurdistan 1988 Assessment of subway for passengers transportation A case study of Tehran 1997 Doctoral advisorHamid BehbahaniOther advisorsAli Mansour KhakiGholamreza ShirazianJalil ShahiAcademic workDisciplineCivil engineeringSub disciplineTraffic engineeringInstitutionsIran University of Science and TechnologyThis article contains Persian text Without proper rendering support you may see question marks boxes or other symbols An engineer and teacher from a poor background 14 ideologically shaped by thinkers such as Navvab Safavi Jalal Al e Ahmad and Ahmad Fardid 15 Ahmadinejad joined the Office for Strengthening Unity 16 after the Iranian Revolution Appointed a provincial governor in 1993 he was replaced along with all other provincial governors in 1997 after the election of President Mohammad Khatami and returned to teaching 17 18 Tehran s council elected him mayor in 2003 19 He took a religious hard line reversing reforms of previous moderate mayors 20 His 2005 presidential campaign supported by the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran garnered 62 of the runoff election votes and he became president on 3 August 2005 21 22 During his presidency Ahmadinejad was a controversial figure both in Iran and worldwide He has been criticized domestically for his economic policies 23 and accused of disregard for human rights by organizations in North America and Europe 24 Outside of Iran he has been criticized for his hostility towards countries including Israel Saudi Arabia the United Kingdom and the United States and other Western and Arab states In 2007 Ahmadinejad introduced a gasoline rationing plan to reduce the country s fuel consumption and cut the interest rates that private and public banking facilities could charge 25 26 27 He supports Iran s nuclear program His election to a second term in 2009 was widely disputed 28 29 and led to widespread protests domestically and criticism from Western countries 30 During his second term Ahmadinejad experienced a power struggle with reformers and other traditionalists 31 in parliament and the Revolutionary Guard and with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei 32 over his dismissal of intelligence minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Eje i and his support for his controversial close adviser Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei 33 On 14 March 2012 Ahmadinejad became the first president of the Islamic Republic of Iran to be summoned by the Islamic Consultative Assembly parliament to answer questions regarding his presidency 34 35 Limited to two terms under the current Iranian constitution Ahmadinejad supported Mashaei s campaign for president 31 In 2013 Hassan Rouhani was elected as Ahmadinejad s successor On 12 April 2017 Ahmadinejad announced that he intended to run for a third term in the 2017 presidential election against the objections of Supreme Leader Khamenei 36 His nomination was rejected by the Guardian Council 37 38 During the 2017 18 Iranian protests Ahmadinejad criticized the current government of Iran He made a second attempt at registering to run for the 2021 presidential election and was rejected again by the Guardian Council 39 Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Administrative and academic careers 3 Early political career 4 Mayor of Tehran 5 Presidency 2005 2013 5 1 2005 campaign 5 2 2005 presidential election 5 3 2005 cabinet appointments 5 4 2006 councils and Assembly of Experts election 5 5 2009 presidential election 5 6 2009 presidential election protests 5 7 2009 cabinet appointments 5 8 2012 parliamentary elections 6 Domestic policy 6 1 Economic policy 6 2 Family planning and population policy 6 3 Housing 6 4 Human rights 6 5 Universities 6 5 1 December 2006 student protest 6 6 Nuclear program 7 Domestic criticism and controversies 7 1 Accusations of corruption 7 2 Other statements 7 3 The UN and football stadiums 7 4 Constitutional conflict 7 5 Ali Kordan 7 6 Conflict with Parliament 7 7 Relations with Supreme Leader of Iran 7 8 Hugo Chavez s funeral 7 9 Nepotism 8 Foreign relations 8 1 Israel 8 1 1 Holocaust denial controversy 8 2 Palestine 8 3 United States 8 4 Venezuela 9 After presidency 9 1 2017 presidential election 9 2 2017 18 Iranian protests 9 3 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine 10 Party affiliation 11 Public image 12 Electoral history 13 Personal life 14 See also 15 References 16 Notes 17 Further reading 18 External linksEarly life and education EditMahmoud Ahmadinejad was born on 28 October 1956 near Garmsar in the village of Aradan in Semnan province His mother Khanom was a Sayyida an honorific title given to those believed to be direct bloodline descendants of the Islamic prophet Muhammad 40 His father Ahmad was a Persian grocer and barber and was a religious Shia who taught the Quran 40 When Mahmoud was one year old his family moved to Tehran Mahmoud s father changed their family name from Saborjhian 41 or Sabaghian c to Ahmadinejad in 1960 to avoid discrimination when the family moved to the city Sabor is Persian for thread painter d a once common occupation within the Semnan carpet industry Ahmadinejad s uncle and his brother Davoud Ahmadinejad have confirmed that the previous surname was Sabbaghian Persian صباغیان 5 Ahmadinejad is a composite name Ahmadi Nejad Ahmad was his father s name The suffix Nejad in Persian means race therefore the term Ahmadi Nejad means the lineage of Ahmad According to the interviews with the relatives of Ahmadi Nejad his father who works in a small shop sold his house in Tehran and bought a smaller house giving the excess funds to charity and poor people 45 In 1976 Ahmadinejad took Iran s national university entrance examination According to his autobiography he was ranked 132nd out of 400 000 participants that year 46 and soon enrolled in the Iran University of Science and Technology IUST located at Tehran as an undergraduate student of civil engineering He would later earn his doctorate in 1997 in transportation engineering and planning from Iran University of Science and Technology as well when he was the mayor of Ardabil Province located at the north west of the country citation needed Administrative and academic careers EditSome details of Ahmadinejad s life during the 1980s are not publicly known but it is known that he held a number of administrative posts in the province of West Azerbaijan Iran 47 Many reports say that after Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion of Iran Ahmadinejad joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps 19 and served in their intelligence and security apparatus 19 but his advisor Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi has said He has never been a member or an official member of the Revolutionary Guards having been a Basiji like volunteer instead 48 Ahmadinejad was accepted to a Master of Science program at his alma mater in 1986 He joined the faculty there as a lecturer in 1989 14 49 and in 1997 received his doctorate in civil engineering and traffic transportation planning 14 19 Early political career EditAfter the Islamic Revolution Ahmadinejad became a member of the Office for Strengthening Unity 16 an organization developed to prevent students from sympathizing or allying with the emerging militant Mojahedin e Khalq organisation 16 Ahmadinejad first assumed political office as unelected governor to both Maku and Khoy in West Azarbaijan Province during the 1980s 19 He eventually became an advisor to the governor general of Kurdistan Province for two years 14 49 During his doctoral studies at Tehran he was appointed governor general of newly formed Ardabil Province from 1993 until Mohammad Khatami removed him in 1997 49 whereupon he returned to teaching 19 Mayor of Tehran EditThe 2003 mayoral race in Tehran elected conservative candidates from the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran to the City Council of Tehran The Council appointed Ahmadinejad mayor 19 As mayor he reversed changes made by previous moderate and reformist mayors He put religious emphasis on the activities of cultural centres they had founded publicised the separation of elevators for men and women in the municipality offices 20 and suggested that people killed in the Iran Iraq War be buried in major city squares of Tehran He also worked to improve the traffic system and put an emphasis on charity such as distributing free soup to the poor citation needed After his election to the presidency Ahmadinejad s resignation as the Mayor of Tehran was accepted on 28 June 2005 After two years as mayor Ahmadinejad was one of 65 finalists for World Mayor in 2005 selected from 550 nominees only nine of them from Asia 50 He was among three strong candidates for the top ten list but his resignation made him ineligible 50 Presidency 2005 2013 EditFurther information Presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 2005 campaign Edit Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a press conference 21 June 2005 Ahmadinejad was not particularly well known when he entered the presidential election campaign as he had never run for office before he had been mayor of Tehran for only two years and had been appointed not elected 51 315 although he had already made his mark in Tehran for rolling back earlier reforms He was is a member of the Central Council of the Islamic Society of Engineers but his key political support is inside the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran Abadgaran or Developers 52 He was also helped by support from supreme leader Ali Khamenei of whom some described Ahmadinejad as a protege 53 Ahmadinejad was largely non committal about his plans for his presidency perhaps to attract both religious conservatives and the lower economic classes 54 His campaign slogan was It s possible and we can do it 55 In the campaign he took a populist approach He emphasized his own modest life and compared himself with Mohammad Ali Rajai Iran s second president Ahmadinejad said he planned to create an exemplary government for the people of the world in Iran citation needed He was a principlist acting politically based on Islamic and revolutionary principles One of his goals was putting the petroleum income on people s tables meaning Iran s oil profits would be distributed among the poor 56 Ahmadinejad was the only presidential candidate who spoke out against future relations with the United States He told Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting the United Nations was one sided stacked against the world of Islam 57 He opposed the veto power of the UN Security Council s five permanent members It is not just for a few states to sit and veto global approvals Should such a privilege continue to exist the Muslim world with a population of nearly 1 5 billion should be extended the same privilege He defended Iran s nuclear program and accused a few arrogant powers of trying to limit Iran s industrial and technological development in this and other fields citation needed In his second round campaign he said We didn t participate in the revolution for turn by turn government This revolution tries to reach a world wide government He spoke of an extended program using trade to improve foreign relations and called for greater ties with Iran s neighbours and ending visa requirements between states in the region saying that people should visit anywhere they wish freely People should have freedom in their pilgrimages and tours 55 Ahmadinejad described Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi a senior cleric from Qom as his ideological and spiritual mentor Mesbah founded the Haghani School of thought in Iran citation needed He and his team strongly supported Ahmadinejad s 2005 presidential campaign 58 2005 presidential election Edit Main article 2005 Iranian presidential election Ahmadinejad won 62 of the vote in the run off poll against Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei authorized his presidency on 3 August 2005 21 22 Ahmadinejad kissed Khamenei s hand during the ceremony to show his loyalty 59 60 Shortly after Ahmadinejad was elected president some Western media outlets published claims that he was among the students who stormed the US embassy in Tehran sparking the Iran hostage crisis This claim has been denied by the Iranian government the Iranian opposition as well as an American investigation by the CIA 61 2005 cabinet appointments Edit Ministry MinisterAgriculture Mohammad Reza EskandariCommerce Masoud Mir KazemiCommunication and Information Technology Mohammad SoleimaniCooperatives Mohammad AbbasiCulture and Islamic Guidance Hossein Saffar HarandiDefense and Armed Forces Logistics Mostafa Mohammad NajjarEconomy and Financial Affairs Hossein SamsamiEducation Alireza Ali AhmadiEnergy Parviz FattahForeign Affairs Manoucher MottakiHealth and Medical Education Kamran Bagheri LankaraniHousing and Urban Development Mohammad SaeedikiaIndustries and Mines Aliakbar MehrabianIntelligence Gholam Hossein Mohseni EjeheiInterior Mostafa Pour Mohammadi 62 Justice Gholam Hossein ElhamLabour and Social Affairs Mohammad JahromiPetroleum Gholam Hossein NozariRoads and Transportation Hamid BehbahaniScience Research and Technology Mohammad Mehdi ZahediWelfare and Social Security Abdolreza MesriIran s president is constitutionally obliged to obtain confirmation from the parliament for his selection of ministers 63 Ahmadinejad presented a short list at a private meeting on 5 August and his final list on 14 August The Majlis rejected all of his cabinet candidates for the oil portfolio and objected to the appointment of his allies in senior government office 56 The Majlis approved a cabinet on 24 August 64 The ministers promised to meet frequently outside Tehran and held their first meeting on 25 August in Mashhad with four empty seats for the unapproved nominees 65 2006 councils and Assembly of Experts election Edit Main articles 2006 Iranian councils election and Iranian Assembly of Experts election 2006 Ahmadinejad s team lost the 2006 city council elections 66 In the first nationwide election since Ahmadinejad became president his allies failed to dominate election returns for the Assembly of Experts and local councils Results with a turnout of about 60 suggested a voter shift toward more moderate policies According to an editorial in the Kargozaran independent daily newspaper The results show that voters have learned from the past and concluded that we need to support moderate figures An Iranian political analyst said that this is a blow for Ahmadinejad and Mesbah Yazdi s list 66 2009 presidential election Edit Main article 2009 Iranian presidential election On 23 August 2008 Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei announced that he sees Ahmadinejad as president in the next five years a comment interpreted as indicating support for Ahmadinejad s reelection 67 39 165 191 ballots were cast in the election on 12 June 2009 according to Iran s election headquarters Ahmadinejad won 24 527 516 votes 62 63 In second place Mir Hossein Mousavi won 13 216 411 33 75 of the votes 68 2009 presidential election protests Edit Main article 2009 Iranian election protests The election results remained in dispute with both Mousavi and Ahmadinejad and their respective supporters who believe that electoral fraud occurred during the election Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei formally endorsed Ahmadinejad as president on 3 August 2009 and Ahmadinejad was sworn in for a second term on 5 August 2009 69 Iran s Constitution stipulates term limits of two terms for the office of President 70 Several Iranian political figures appeared to avoid the ceremony Former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani who was then head of the Expediency Discernment Council along with opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi did not attend the ceremony 71 Opposition groups asked protesters on reformist websites and blogs to launch new street demonstrations on the day of the inauguration ceremony 72 On inauguration day hundreds of riot police met opposition protesters outside parliament After taking the oath of office which was broadcast live on Iranian state television Ahmadinejad said that he would protect the official faith the system of the Islamic revolution and the constitution 69 France Germany the United Kingdom and the United States announced that they would not send the usual letters of congratulation 69 2009 cabinet appointments Edit Ministry MinisterAgriculture Sadeq KhalilianCommerce Mehdi GhazanfariCommunication and Information Technology Reza TaghipourCooperatives Mohammad AbbasiCulture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad HosseiniDefense and Armed Forces Logistics Ahmad VahidiEconomy and Financial Affairs Shamseddin HosseiniEducation Hamid Reza Haji BabaeeEnergy Majid NamjooForeign Affairs Manouchehr MottakiHealth and Medical Education Marzieh Vahid DastjerdiHousing and Urban Development Reza SheykholeslamIndustries and Mines Aliakbar MehrabianIntelligence Heydar MoslehiInterior Mostafa Mohammad NajjarJustice Morteza BakhtiariLabour and Social Affairs Ali NikzadPetroleum Masoud Mir KazemiRoads and Transportation Hamid BehbahaniScience Research and Technology Kamran DaneshjooWelfare and Social Security Sadeq MahsouliAhmadinejad announced controversial ministerial appointments for his second term Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei was briefly appointed as first vice president but opposed by a number of Majlis members and by the intelligence minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Eje i Mashaei followed orders to resign Ahmadinejad then appointed Mashaei as chief of staff and fired Mohseni Eje i 73 On 26 July 2009 Ahmadinejad s government faced a legal problem after he sacked four ministers Iran s constitution Article 136 stipulates that if more than half of its members are replaced the cabinet may not meet or act before the Majlis approves the revised membership 74 The vice chairman of the Majlis announced that no cabinet meetings or decisions would be legal pending such a re approval 75 On 4 September 2009 the Majlis approved 18 of the 21 cabinet candidates and rejected three including two women Sousan Keshavarz Mohammad Aliabadi and Fatemeh Ajorlou were not approved by Majlis for the Ministries of Education Energy and Welfare and Social Security respectively Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi was the first woman approved by the Majlis as a minister in the Islamic Republic of Iran 76 2012 parliamentary elections Edit Ahmadinejad suffered a defeat in March May 2012 parliamentary elections with Ayatollah Khamenei s Principalist allies winning about three quarters of the parliaments 290 seats and Ahmadinejad supporters far fewer 77 Domestic policy EditEconomic policy Edit See also Economy of Iran In Ahmadinejad s first four years as president Iran s real GDP reflected growth of the economy Inflation and unemployment also decreased under Ahmadinejad due to better economic management and ending the unsustainable spending and borrowing patterns of previous administrations 78 Ahmadinejad increased spending by 25 and supported subsidies for food and petrol He also initially refused a gradual increase of petrol prices saying that after making necessary preparations such as a development of public transportation system the government would free up petrol prices after five years 79 Interest rates were cut by presidential decree to below the inflation rate One unintended effect of this stimulation of the economy has been the bidding up of some urban real estate prices by two or three times their pre Ahmadinejad value by Iranians seeking to invest surplus cash and finding few other safe opportunities The resulting increase in the cost of housing hurt poorer non property owning Iranians the putative beneficiaries of Ahmadinejad s populist policies 80 The Management and Planning Organisation a state body charged with mapping out long term economic and budget strategy was broken up and its experienced managers were fired 81 Ahmadinejad at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012 In June 2006 50 Iranian economists wrote a letter to Ahmadinejad that criticized his price interventions to stabilize prices of goods cement government services and his decree issued by the High Labor Council and the Ministry of Labor that proposed an increase of workers salaries by 40 Ahmadinejad publicly responded harshly to the letter and denounced the accusations 82 83 Ahmadinejad called for middle of the road compromises with respect to Western oriented capitalism and socialism Current political conflicts with the United States caused the central bank to fear increased capital flight due to global isolation These factors prevented an improvement of infrastructure and capital influx despite high economic potential 78 Among those that did not vote for him in the first election only 3 5 said they would consider voting for him in the next election 84 Mohammad Khoshchehreh a member of the Iranian parliament that campaigned for Ahmadinejad said that his government has been strong on populist slogans but weak on achievement 85 President Ahmadinejad changed almost all of his economic ministers including oil industry and economy since coming to power in 2005 In an interview with Fars News Agency in April 2008 Davoud Danesh Jaafari who acted as minister of economy in Ahmadinejad s cabinet harshly criticized his economic policy During my time there was no positive attitude towards previous experiences or experienced people and there was no plan for the future Peripheral issues which were not of dire importance to the nation were given priority Most of the scientific economic concepts like the effect of liquidity on inflation were put in question 86 In response to these criticisms Ahmadinejad accused his minister of not being a man of justice and declared that the solution to Iran s economic problem is the culture of martyrdom 87 In May 2008 the petroleum minister of Iran admitted that the government illegally invested 2 billion dollars to import petrol in 2007 At Iranian parliament he also mentioned that he simply followed the president s order 88 While his government had 275 thousand billion toman oil income the highest in Iranian history Ahmadinejad s government had the highest budget deficit since the Iranian revolution 89 During his presidency Ahmadinejad launched a gasoline rationing plan to reduce the country s fuel consumption He also instituted cuts in the interest rates that private and public banking facilities could charge 25 26 90 He issued a directive that the Management and Planning Organization be affiliated to the government 91 In May 2011 Ahmadinejad announced that he would temporarily run the Oil Ministry 92 Family planning and population policy Edit See also Family planning in Iran In October 2006 Ahmadinejad began calling for the scrapping of Iran s existing birth control policies which discouraged Iranian couples from having more than two children He told MPs that Iran could cope with 50 million more people than the current 70 million In November 2010 he urged Iranians to marry and reproduce earlier We should take the age of marriage for boys to 20 and for girls to about 16 and 17 93 His remarks have drawn criticism and been called ill judged at a time when Iran was struggling with surging inflation and rising unemployment estimated at around 11 Ahmadinejad s call was reminiscent of a call for Iranians to have more children made by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979 The policy had increased Iran s population by 16 million in seven years 51 321 but had eventually been reversed in response to the resultant economic strain 94 In 2008 the government sent the Family Protection Bill to the Iranian parliament Women s rights activists criticized the bill for removing protections from women such as the requirement that a husband obtain his wife s consent before marrying a second wife Women s rights in Iran are more religiously based than those in secular countries 95 Housing Edit See also Construction industry of Iran Mehr Housing Scheme The first legislation to emerge from his newly formed government was a 12 trillion rial US 1 3 billion fund called Reza s Compassion Fund 96 named after Shi a Imam Ali al Rida Ahmadinejad s government said this fund would tap Iran s oil revenues to help young people get jobs afford marriage and buy their own homes 97 The fund also sought charitable donations with a board of trustees in each of Iran s 30 provinces The legislation was a response to the cost of urban housing which is pushing up the national average marital age currently around 25 years for women and 28 years for men In 2006 the Iranian parliament rejected the fund however Ahmadinejad ordered the administrative council to execute the plan 96 Human rights Edit See also Human rights in Iran Ahmadinejad speaking at Columbia University September 2007 According to a report by Human Rights Watch Since President Ahmadinejad came to power treatment of detainees has worsened in Evin Prison as well as in detention centers operated clandestinely by the Judiciary the Ministry of Information and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps 98 464 Human Rights Watch also has stated Respect for basic human rights in Iran especially freedom of expression and assembly deteriorated in 2006 The government routinely tortures and mistreats detained dissidents including through prolonged solitary confinement 98 463 Human Rights Watch described the source of human rights violations in contemporary Iran as coming from the Judiciary accountable to Ali Khamenei and from members directly appointed by Ahmadinejad citation needed Responses to dissent have varied Human Rights Watch writes that the Ahmadinejad government in a pronounced shift from the policy under former president Mohammed Khatami has shown no tolerance for peaceful protests and gatherings In December 2006 Ahmadinejad advised officials not to disturb students who engaged in a protest during a speech of his at the Amirkabir University of Technology in Tehran 99 100 although speakers at other protests have included among their complaints that there had been a crackdown on dissent at universities since Ahmadinejad was elected 101 In April 2007 the Tehran police which is under Khamenei s supervision began a crackdown on women with improper hijab This led to criticism from associates of Ahmadinejad 102 In 2012 Ahmadinejad claimed that AIDS was created by the West in order to weaken poorer countries and repeated a previous claim that homosexual Iranians did not exist 103 He has also described homosexuality as ugly 104 105 Universities Edit See also Higher education in Iran In 2006 the Ahmadinejad 106 government reportedly forced numerous Iranian scientists and university professors to resign or to retire It has been referred to as the second cultural revolution 107 108 The policy has been said to replace old professors with younger ones 109 Some university professors received letters indicating their early retirement unexpectedly 110 In November 2006 53 university professors had to retire from Iran University of Science and Technology 111 In 2006 Ahmadinejad s government applied a 50 quota for male students and 50 for female students in the university entrance exam for medicine dentistry and pharmacy The plan was supposed to stop the growing presence of female students in the universities In a response to critics Iranian minister of health and medical education Kamran Bagheri Lankarani argued that there are not enough facilities such as dormitories for female students citation needed Masoud Salehi president of Zahedan University said that presence of women generates some problems with transportation citation needed Also Ebrahim Mekaniki president of Babol University of Medical Sciences stated that an increase in the presence of women will make it difficult to distribute facilities in a suitable manner citation needed Bagher Larijani the president of Tehran University of Medical Sciences made similar remarks citation needed According to Rooz Online the quotas lack a legal foundation and are justified as support for family and religion citation needed December 2006 student protest Edit In December 2006 it was reported that some students were angry about the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust which they saw as promoting Holocaust denial 112 In response to the students slogans the president said We have been standing up to dictatorship so that no one will dare to establish dictatorship in a millennium even in the name of freedom Given the scars inflicted on the Iranian nation by agents of the US and British dictatorship no one will ever dare to initiate the rise of a dictator 113 It was reported that even though the protesters broke the TV cameras and threw hand made bombs at Ahmadinejad 114 the president asked the officials not to question or disturb the protesters 99 100 In his blog Ahmadinejad described his reaction to the incident as a feeling of joy because of the freedom that people enjoyed after the revolution 115 One thousand students also protested the day before to denounce the increased pressure on the reformist groups at the university One week prior more than two thousand students protested at Tehran University on the country s annual student day with speakers saying that there had been a crackdown on dissent at universities since Ahmadinejad was elected 112 116 Nuclear program Edit See also Nuclear program of Iran Ahmadinejad has been a vocal supporter of Iran s nuclear program and has insisted that it is for peaceful purposes He has repeatedly emphasized that building a nuclear bomb is not the policy of his government He has said that such a policy is illegal and against our religion 117 118 He also added at a January 2006 conference in Tehran that a nation with culture logic and civilization would not need nuclear weapons and that countries that seek nuclear weapons are those that want to solve all problems by the use of force 119 In April 2006 Ahmadinejad announced that Iran had successfully refined uranium to a stage suitable for the nuclear fuel cycle In a speech to students and academics in Mashhad he was quoted as saying that Iran s conditions had changed completely as it had become a nuclear state and could talk to other states from that stand 120 On 13 April 2006 Iran s news agency Islamic Republic News Agency IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying that the peaceful Iranian nuclear technology would not pose a threat to any party because we want peace and stability and we will not cause injustice to anyone and at the same time we will not submit to injustice 121 Nevertheless Iran s nuclear policy under Ahmadinejad s administration received much criticism spearheaded by the United States and Israel The accusations include that Iran is striving to obtain nuclear arms and developing long range firing capabilities and that Ahmadinejad issued an order to keep UN inspectors from freely visiting the nation s nuclear facilities and viewing their designs in defiance of an IAEA resolution 122 123 124 125 Following a May 2009 test launch of a long range missile Ahmadinejad was quoted as telling the crowd that with its nuclear program Iran was sending the West a message that the Islamic Republic of Iran is running the show 126 Despite Ahmadinejad s vocal support for the program the office of the Iranian president is not directly responsible for nuclear policy It is instead set by the Supreme National Security Council The council includes two representatives appointed by the Supreme Leader military officials and members of the executive judicial and legislative branches of government and reports directly to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons in 2005 127 Khamenei has criticized Ahmadinejad s personalization of the nuclear issue 128 Ahmadinejad vowed in February 2008 that Iran will not be held back from developing its peaceful nuclear program 129 In October 2009 the United States France and Russia proposed a U N drafted deal with Iran regarding its nuclear program in an effort to find a compromise between Iran s stated need for a nuclear reactor and the concerns of those who are worried that Iran harbors a secret intent of developing a nuclear weapon After some delay in responding on 29 October Ahmadinejad seemed to change his tone towards the deal We welcome fuel exchange nuclear co operation building of power plants and reactors and we are ready to co operate he said in a live broadcast on state television 130 He added that Iran would not retreat one iota on its right to a sovereign nuclear program 131 Domestic criticism and controversies EditAccusations of corruption Edit See also 2011 Iranian embezzlement scandal and Iran Insurance embezzlement case According to Brussels based NGO International Crisis Group Ahmadinejad has been criticized for attacking private plunderers and corrupt officials while engaging in cronyism and political favouritism Many of his close associates were appointed to positions for which they have no obvious qualifications and billion dollar no bid contracts were awarded to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps IRGC an organization with which he is strongly associated 132 According to Najmeh Bozorgmehr of the Financial Times Iran has a long history of cronyism and corruption under its monarchies and the Islamic Republic But the scale of corruption under Mr Ahmadinejad was of a different order according to both reform minded and conservative politicians 133 Other statements Edit Participants of the second Caspian Summit in October 2007 From left to right President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliev President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbaev President of Russia Vladimir Putin and President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad In June 2007 Ahmadinejad was criticized by some Iranian parliament members over his remark about Christianity and Judaism According to Aftab News Agency Ahmadinejad stated In the world there are deviations from the right path Christianity and Judaism Dollars have been devoted to the propagation of these deviations There are also false claims that these religions will save mankind But Islam is the only religion that can save mankind Some members of Iranian parliament criticized these remarks as being fuels to religious war 134 135 Conservative MP Rafat Bayat has accused Ahmadinejad for a decline in observance of the required hijab for women calling him not that strict on this issue 136 Ahmadinejad was also accused of indecency by people close to Rafsanjani 137 after he publicly kissed the hand of a woman who used to be his school teacher 138 The UN and football stadiums Edit There are two statements that led to criticism from some religious authorities One concerns his speech at the United Nations and the other concerns the attendance of women at football matches During a visit to group of Ayatollahs in Qom after returning from his 2005 speech to the UN General Assembly Ahmadinejad stated he had felt a halo over his head during his speech and that a hidden presence had mesmerized the unblinking audience of foreign leaders foreign ministers and ambassadors Ahmadinejad closed his speech with a call for the mighty Lord to hasten the emergence of Imam Mahdi 139 According to Iranian American journalist Hooman Majd the response given to Ahmadinejad at the assembly was offensive to the conservative religious leaders because an ordinary man cannot presume a special closeness to God or any of the Imams nor can he imply the presence of the Mahdi 140 In another statement in 2006 Ahmadinejad proclaimed without consulting the clerics beforehand that women be allowed into football stadiums to watch male football clubs compete This proclamation was quickly overruled by clerical authorities one of whom Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Fazel Lankarani refused for weeks to meet with President Ahmadinejad in early 2007 140 Constitutional conflict Edit In 2008 a serious conflict emerged between the Iranian President and the head of parliament over three laws approved by the Iranian parliament the agreement for civil and criminal legal cooperation between Iran and Kyrgyzstan the agreement to support mutual investment between Iran and Kuwait and the law for registration of industrial designs and trademarks The conflict was so serious that the Iranian leader stepped in to resolve it Ahmadinejad wrote a letter to the parliamentary speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel furiously denouncing him for the inexplicable act of bypassing the presidency by giving the order to implement legislation in an official newspaper citation needed Ahmadinejad accused the head of parliament of violating Iranian constitutional law He called for legal action against the parliament speaker 141 Haddad Adel responded to Ahmadinejad accusing him of using inappropriate language in his remarks and letters 142 Ali Kordan Edit Main article Ali Kordan In August 2008 Ahmadinejad appointed Ali Kordan as interior minister Kordan s appointment was heavily criticized by Iranian parliamentarians media and analysts after it came to light that a doctoral degree purportedly awarded to Kordan was fabricated and that the putative issuer of the degree Oxford University had no record of Kordan receiving any degree from the University 143 It was also revealed that he had been jailed in 1978 for moral charges 144 In November 2008 Ahmadinejad announced that he was against impeachment of Kordan by Iranian parliament He refused to attend the parliament on the impeachment day 145 Kordan was expelled from office by Iranian parliament on 4 November 2008 188 MPs voted against him An impeachment of Kordan would push Ahmadinejad close to having to submit his entire cabinet for review by parliament which was led by one of his chief political opponents Iran s constitution requires that step if more than half the cabinet ministers are replaced and Ahmadinejad replaced nine of 21 until that date 146 147 Conflict with Parliament Edit Ahmadinejad speaking in the Majlis Chairman Ali Larijani is also pictured In February 2009 after Supreme Audit Court of Iran reported that 1 058 billion of surplus oil revenue in the 2006 2007 budget hadn t been returned by the government to the national treasury 148 Tensions between Larijani and Ahmadinejad continued into 2013 149 Ahmadinejad criticized the National Audit Office for what he called its carelessness saying the report incites the people against the government 150 In May 2011 several members of parliament threatened to initiate impeachment proceedings against Ahmadinejad after his merger of eight government ministries and the firing of three ministers without parliament s consent According to the Majles news website MP Mohammad Reza Bahonar stated legal purging starts with questions which lead to warnings and end with impeachment On 25 May parliament voted to investigate another allegation that Ahmadinejad had committed election irregularities by giving cash to up to nine million Iranians before the 2009 presidential elections The vote came within hours after the allegations appeared in several popular conservative news sites associated with supreme leader Ali Khamenei suggesting the supreme leader supported the investigation 151 The disputes were seen as part of the clash between Ahmadinejad and other conservatives and former supporters including supreme leader Khamenei over what the conservatives see as Ahmadinejad s confrontational policies and abuse of power 151 152 Relations with Supreme Leader of Iran Edit Ahmadinejad with Ali Khamenei Ali Larijani and Sadeq Larijani in 2011 Early in his presidency Ahmadinejad was sometimes described as enjoy ing the full backing of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei 153 and even as being his protege 154 In Ahmadinejad s 2005 inauguration the supreme leader allowed Ahmadinejad to kiss his hand and cheeks in what was called a sign of closeness and loyalty 155 and after the 2009 election fully endorsed Ahmadinejad against protesters however as early as January 2008 signs of disagreement between the two men developed over domestic policies 153 and by the period of 2010 11 several sources detected a growing rift between them 156 32 The disagreement was described as centered on Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei a top adviser and close confidant of Ahmadinejad 33 and opponent of greater involvement of clerics in politics 157 who was first vice president of Iran until being ordered to resign from the cabinet by the supreme leader In 2009 Ahmadinejad dismissed Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Eje i an opponent of Mashaei In April 2011 another Intelligence minister Heydar Moslehi resigned after being asked to by Ahmadinejad but was reinstated by the supreme leader within hours 154 158 Ahmadinejad declined to officially back Moslehi s reinstatement for two weeks and in protest engaged in an 11 day walkout of cabinet meetings religious ceremonies and other official functions 32 158 Ahmadinejad s actions led to angry public attacks by clerics parliamentarians and military commanders who accused him of ignoring orders from the supreme leader 33 Conservative opponents in parliament launched an impeachment drive against him 157 four websites with ties to Ahmadinejad reportedly were filtered and blocked 154 and several people said to be close to the president and Mashaei such as Abbas Amirifar and Mohammed Sharif Malekzadeh were arrested on charges of being magicians and invoking djinns 32 On 6 May 2011 it was reported that Ahmadinejad had been given an ultimatum to accept the leader s intervention or resign 159 and on 8 May he apparently bowed to the reinstatement welcoming back Moslehi to a cabinet meeting 160 The events have been said to have humiliated and weakened Ahmadinejad though the president denied that there had been any rift between the two 33 and according to the semiofficial Fars News Agency he stated that his relationship with the supreme leader is that of a father and a son 157 In 2012 Khamenei ordered a halt to a parliamentary inquiry into Ahmadinejad s mishandling of the Iranian economy 161 In 2016 Khamenei advised Mahmoud Ahmadinejad his former ally with whom his relationship was strained after Ahmadinejad accused his son Mojtaba Khamenei of embezzling from the state treasury 162 to not run for president again 163 164 165 166 167 Hugo Chavez s funeral Edit Ahmadinejad was criticised by the religious and political groups in Iran for photographs taken of him embracing Elena Frias de Chavez the mother of recently deceased Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez at his funeral In the image Ahmadinejad was thought to be holding her hands and in a cheek to cheek embrace such an act touching an unrelated woman is considered haraam forbidden in some interpretations of Islam 168 169 Iranian government officials responded by stating that the image was a fake then released a second photo showing Ahmadinejad in the same pose but in this case hugging a man 170 This later photograph was debunked when it was discovered that the other man was Egyptian opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei who had not been at the funeral 170 Nepotism Edit One of the most frequent criticisms about Ahmadinejad was the nepotism in his governments Nepotism was one of his habits in appointing senior government officials 171 172 His elder brother Davoud was appointed chief inspector at the presidency in 2005 and was in office until 2008 173 174 His sister Parvin served at the presidential s women s center 171 His nephew Ali Akbar Mehrabian served as the mining and industry minister in his cabinet 171 His daughter s father in law Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei served at several senior positions 174 175 His brother in law Masoud Zaribafan served as cabinet secretary 173 Foreign relations EditMain article Foreign policy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Countries visited by President Ahmadinejad during his terms in office During Ahmadinejad s tenure as President of Iran the foreign policy of the country took a different approach from the previous administration Relations with developed countries generally soured while relations with less developed countries including those in Africa and Latin America rose In light of the calls for sanctions on Iran for its nuclear weapons programme Ahmadinejad and his foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki traveled extensively throughout the two regions as well as hosted other leaders Relations with the ALBA states and Venezuela Bolivia and Ecuador in particular were most strengthened Relations with America during the Bush administration and Israel deteriorated further citation needed Ahmadinejad is an outspoken critic of the Western world and is often criticized for his hostility towards the United States Israel the United Kingdom and other Western nations 176 177 Israel Edit Main article Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Israel Ahmadinejad with leaders of the Caspian sea bordering nations Ahmadinejad abides by Iran s long standing policy of refusing to recognize Israel as a legitimate state and wants the Jewish people who immigrated to Israel to return to their fatherlands translated 178 In 2005 Ahmadinejad in a speech praising the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini was translated by Iranian state run media as saying that Israel must be wiped off the map 179 180 181 A controversy erupted over the translation with specialists such as Juan Cole of the University of Michigan and Arash Norouzi of the Mossadegh Project pointing out that the original statement in Farsi did not say that Israel should be wiped off the map but instead that it would collapse 182 183 184 The words Israel map and to wipe off are non existent in the Iranian speech s original According to another IRNA translation on the occasion of a commemoration of the anniversary of Khomeini s death on 3 June 2008 Ahmadinejad stated that The corrupt element will be wiped off the map 185 Contextually Ahmadinejad was quoting Khomeini s words about the imminent disappearance of the Soviet Union and the Shah s regime and tacked on his remarks concerning Israel In Katajun Amirpur s analysis there is no implication in the text that Iran intended destroying Israel or annihilating the Jewish people any more than Khomeini was suggesting with his words that the Russians or the Iranian people themselves under the Shah would be extinguished 185 Ahmadinejad is on the record as stating that Iran had no plans to attack Israel 185 The statement itself was in fact a citation with a minute verbal variation of a remark made by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979 which had created no furor at the time but did so when Ahmadinejad quoted them in 2005 186 Ahmadinejad meeting with Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Tehran Dan Meridor Israel s minister of intelligence and atomic energy said during an Al Jazeera interview that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had repeatedly said that Israel is an unnatural creature it will not survive They didn t say We ll wipe it out you re right but It will not survive adding If Iran says this and continues to pile up uranium that they enrich and build missiles in big numbers and have a nuclear military plan if you put all this together you can t say they don t really mean it 187 The Washington Post s fact checker editor Glenn Kessler says the interpretation gets murkier when Ahmadinejad s quote is set against other Iranian propaganda Karim Sadjadpour an Iranian specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace cites proof that the Iranian government releases propaganda that clearly says Israel should be wiped off Joshua Teitelbaum of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs discovered pictures of Iranian propaganda banners that clearly say in English Israel should be wiped out of the face of the world 188 189 In March 2016 Iran tested a ballistic missile painted with the phrase Israel should be wiped off the Earth in Hebrew The missile is reported to be capable of reaching Israel 190 191 192 193 The Official Web site of the President of Iran quoted Ahmadinejad as saying on 15 May 2011 The reason for our insistence that the Zionist regime should be wiped out and vanished is that the Zionist regime is the main base for imposing oppression and harbors the main terrorists of the world 194 Holocaust denial controversy Edit He was strongly criticized after claiming that the Jews invented the Holocaust 195 and making other statements influenced by classic anti Semitic ideas 196 which has led to accusations of antisemitism 197 Ahmadinejad denied that he was an antisemite saying that he respects Jews very much and that he was not passing judgment on the Holocaust 177 198 199 200 Later Ahmadinejad claimed that promoting Holocaust denial was a major achievement of his presidency he stated that put ting it forward at the global level broke the spine of the Western capitalist regime The comments appeared on the Arabic but not on the English version of Fars News Agency s website 201 Palestine Edit Demonstration against Ahmadinejad during the Rio 20 conference in Brazil Ahmadinejad advocates free elections for the region and believes Palestinians need a stronger voice in the region s future 202 On Quds Day in September 2010 he criticized the Palestinian Authority over its president s decision to renew direct peace talks with Israel saying the talks are stillborn and doomed to fail urging the Palestinians to continue armed resistance to Israel 203 204 He said that Mahmoud Abbas had no authority to negotiate on behalf of the Palestinians 205 206 Nabil Abu Rudeineh a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority fired back saying Ahmadinejad does not represent the Iranian people is not entitled to talk about Palestine or the President of Palestine 207 208 United States Edit In September 2010 Ahmadinejad made a contentious assertion at the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly by claiming that most people believe the United States government was behind the 9 11 attacks and later called for an inquiry stating The fact finding mission can shed light on who the perpetrators were who is al Qaeda where does it exist Who was it backed by and supported All these should come to light 209 210 The speech triggered many countries United Nations representatives to walk out and US President Barack Obama described the claims as inexcusable offensive and hateful 211 In 2010 Ahmadinejad reiterated the 9 11 conspiracy and wrote Establishing an independent and impartial committee of investigation which would determine the roots and causes of the regrettable event of 9 11 is the demand of all the peoples of the region and the world Any opposition to this legal and human demand means that 9 11 was premeditated in order to achieve the goals of occupation and of confrontation with the nations 212 He made similar comments at the 66th session in September 2011 213 214 Venezuela Edit Ahmadinejad is said to have forged a close public friendship with Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez On Chavez s death in March 2013 Ahmadinejad posted a condolence message on his website stating I have no doubt that he Chavez will return alongside Jesus Christ and Mahdi to establish peace and justice in the world 215 Ahmad Khatami a senior Iranian cleric said that Ahmadinejad went too far with his comments Hossein Rouhaninejad of Iran s Islamic development organisation said the president s remarks were against Shia Islam beliefs Another senior cleric Seyed Mahdi rebuke Ahmadinejad saying his comments were legally and religiously wrong 216 217 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez in July 2006After presidency Edit Ahmadinejad in his presidential museum known as Office of the Former President of Islamic Republic of Iran Ahmadinejad left his office at Pasteur St on 3 August 2013 and returned to his private house in Narmak 218 In an interview with CNN Ahmadinejad said that after the end of his presidency he would return to the university and retire from politics however Ahmadinejad announced from Russia on the sidelines of an OPEC summit on 2 July 2013 that he might stay involved with politics by creating a new party or non governmental organization 219 In late July Mehr news agency reported that Ahmadinejad obtained permission from the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council to launch a university for post graduate studies in Tehran 220 On 5 August 2013 the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued a decree appointing Ahmadinejad as a member of the Expediency Council 221 On 15 June 2015 a number of Ahmadinejad s cabinet ministers established a new political party called YEKTA Front The party published list for 2016 legislative election and some of Ahmadinejad s cabinet members like Hamid Reza Haji Babaee Sadeq Khalilian Mohammad Abbasi and Mahmoud Bahmani registered for the election but Ahmadinejad did not support any list in the election citation needed 2017 presidential election Edit It was rumored that Ahmadinejad would run for presidency again in 2017 after he did not deny plans when questioned by the media in 2015 222 Ahmadinejad remained mostly out of the public eye since leaving office but his anti Western rhetoric and combative style remained popular among many Iranian Principlists and he was widely viewed as among the most formidable political figures capable of unseating Hassan Rouhani In December 2015 it was reported that he had begun his presidential campaign by appointing his campaign s chiefs He also began provincial travels in April 2016 by traveling to Amol Travels were continued until September 2016 when he traveled to Gorgan 223 Ahmadinejad s advisors said his travels were not electoral and he only delivered speeches due to public demand 224 In September 2016 it was rumored that Ahmadinejad had asked Ali Khamenei Supreme Leader of Iran for permission to run for the office and was rejected by Khamenei who said that it was not in the best interests of Iran 225 226 On 26 September 2016 Ayatollah Khamenei confirmed the news stated that it was only advice not an order 227 It was the first time since Khamenei s election as Supreme Leader in 1989 that he advised a person to not run for election Formerly some candidates had asked him for advice former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani for his campaign in 2005 and 2013 but Khamenei chose to not give his opinion on those occasions The following day Ahmadinejad officially announced he would not run in the upcoming 2017 presidential election 228 He later supported Hamid Baghaei s candidacy 229 However Ahmadinejad registered as presidential candidate on 12 April 2017 36 He was disqualified by the Guardian Council on 20 April 2017 making him the second person after Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to be barred from running the office for a third term 230 2017 18 Iranian protests Edit During the 2017 18 Iranian protests Ahmadinejad criticized the current government of Iran and later supreme leader Ali Khamenei 231 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Edit On 2 March 2022 Ahmadinejad expressed his support for Ukraine and the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On Twitter he stated that Iran stands with Ukraine and expressed his admiration of the Ukrainian resistance while claiming that the resistance uncovered the Satanic plots of enemies of mankind He also warned the President of Russia Vladimir Putin that if he fails to stop the invasion he would have no achievement to show for it only remorse Ahmadinejad s views on the Russian invasion are in stark contrast to the official pro Russian stance of the Government of Iran which blamed NATO and the United States for instigating the war 232 233 234 Party affiliation EditSee also Deviant current Ahmadinejad has been an active and prominent member of the right wing Islamic Society of Engineers since its establishment until 2005 235 As of 2014 he is still a member of the party but is not active since 2005 236 He was also a founding member of the Society of Devotees of the Islamic Revolution 237 but left in 2011 238 Since 2005 Ahmadinejad has introduced himself as non partisan even anti party and did not try to gain support of political parties despite being supported by the conservative camp citation needed A National Democratic Institute report published in 2009 states that Ahmadinejad is self described Principlist 239 Public image EditAhmadinejad is known for his vulgarism undiplomatic language and usage of slang terms 240 He is active on Twitter where he engages his followers primarily in English and tweets about sports the United States and current events 241 242 According to a poll conducted by Information and Public Opinion Solutions LLC iPOS in March 2016 Ahmadinejad was the least popular political figure in Iran He had 57 approval and 39 disapproval ratings thus a 18 net popularity 243 Polls conducted by Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland CISSM and IranPoll with 3 2 margin of error shows his approval rating as follows 244 Date Very favorable Somewhat favorable Somewhat unfavorable Very unfavorable Don t recognize the name DK NAJuly 2014 34 33 14 0 16 0 1 0 3 0 August 2015 27 5 33 5 13 0 22 8 0 2 3 0 January 2016 24 2 32 8 15 0 23 9 0 4 3 7 June 2016 28 0 37 3 14 9 16 1 0 4 3 3 December 2016 27 2 33 6 13 9 19 5 0 4 5 4 Electoral history EditMain article Electoral history of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Ahmadinejad casting his vote in 2016 elections Year Election Votes Rank Notes1999 City Council of Tehran Lost2000 Parliament 280 046 9 55 68th Lost2005 President 5 711 696 19 43 2nd Went to run offPresident run off 17 284 782 61 69 1st Won2009 President 24 527 516 62 63 1st Won2017 President Disqualified2021 President DisqualifiedPersonal life EditAhmadinejad is married and has one daughter and two sons 245 His elder son married a daughter of Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei in 2008 246 247 Supporters of Ahmadinejad consider him a simple man who leads a modest life 248 As president he wanted to continue living in the same house in Tehran his family had been living in until his security advisers insisted that he should move Ahmadinejad had the antique Persian carpets in the Presidential palace sent to a carpet museum and opted instead to use inexpensive carpets He is said to have refused the VIP seat on the Presidential plane and that he eventually replaced it with a cargo plane instead 47 249 Upon gaining Iran s presidency Ahmadinejad held his first cabinet meeting in the Imam Reza shrine at Mashhad an act perceived as pious 250 He also used to lay an extra place for the 12th Imam at his weekly cabinet briefings 251 See also Edit Iran portal Biography portal2006 Iranian sumptuary law controversy Advisors to the president Hamid Mowlana Mohammad Ali Ramin Ali Akbar Javanfekr Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi Politics of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Israel Electoral history of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Foreign policy of the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad administrationReferences Edit Ex Iranian President appointed to new post Azernews az 5 August 2013 Retrieved 9 July 2022 Smith Matt 16 May 2011 Ahmadinejad losing ground in Iran power struggle analysts say CNN Retrieved 3 June 2016 Milani Abbas 3 August 2009 Inside The 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implicit support to Ahmadinejad AFP 12 May 2009 Retrieved 7 September 2010 Africa can Learn from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad The African Executive Archived from the original on 7 July 2011 Escobar Pepe 15 September 2015 Travels in Ahmadinejadland Asia Times Archived from the original on 13 December 2005 a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a CS1 maint unfit URL link A modern history of Iran The Economist 18 November 2017 Retrieved 18 November 2017 Notes Edit At the time Revolutionary Guards rejected official ranks for its members and commanders were simply referred to with honorifics such as brother or pasdar guard 9 The e is the Izafa which is a grammatical marker linking two words together It is not indicated in writing and is not part of the name itself but is pronounced in Persian language when a first and last name are used together Kasra Naji says that the name was Sabaghian which means dye masters in Persian 42 In 2009 some media reports claimed that Sabourjian is a common Iranian Jewish name and that Sabor is the name for the Jewish tallit prayer shawl in Persia 43 Meir Javedanfar a blogger at The Guardian disputed this claim citing experts 44 Further reading EditEncyclopedia of World Biography Supplement 27 Thomson Gale 2007 pp 7 9 Harris David 2004 The Crisis the President the Prophet and the Shah 1979 and the Coming of Militant Islam New York Little Brown ISBN 978 0 316 32394 9 Referral of Iranian President Ahmadinejad on the Charge of Incitement to Commit Genocide by Justus Reid Weiner Esq with Amb Meir Rosenne Prof Elie Wiesel Amb Dore Gold Irit Kohn Adv Amb Eytan Bentsur and MK Dan Naveh Ali Rahnema Superstition as Ideology in Iranian Politics From Majlesi to Ahmadinejad Cambridge University Press 2011 Reviewed in The Montreal Review ISBN 978 0 521 18221 8External links EditMahmoud Ahmadinejad at Wikipedia s sister projects Media from Commons News from Wikinews Quotations from Wikiquote Texts from Wikisource Data from Wikidata Blog of Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Biography in Spanish at CIDOB Foundation Video Archive of Ahmadinejad during his presidency at Irannegah com Appearances on C SPAN Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Twitter Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Telegram Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Instagram Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at IMDb Mahmoud Ahmadinejad collected news and commentary at The Guardian Mahmoud Ahmadinejad collected news and commentary at Ha aretz Mahmoud Ahmadinejad collected news and commentary at The Jerusalem Post Mahmoud Ahmadinejad collected news and commentary at The New York Times People Who Mattered Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Time 16 December 2006 The Results As They Came In Andrew Sullivan The Atlantic 13 June 2009Political officesNew district Governor of Ardabil Province1993 1997 Succeeded byHamid TahayiPreceded byMohammad Hossein MoghimiActing Mayor of Tehran2003 2005 Succeeded byAli SaeedlouActingPreceded byMohammad Khatami President of Iran2005 2013 Succeeded byHassan RouhaniParty political officesNew titleOrganization established Head of Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran s Election Headquarters2003 local elections Succeeded byHossein FadaeiDiplomatic postsPreceded byAbdelaziz Bouteflika Chairperson of the Group of 152006 2010 Succeeded byMahinda RajapaksaPreceded byMohamed Morsi Secretary General of the Non Aligned Movement2012 2013 Succeeded byHassan RouhaniMilitary officesPreceded byMohammad Khatami Deputy Commander in Chief of the Iranian Armed Forces2005 2013 Succeeded byHassan Rouhani Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Mahmoud Ahmadinejad amp oldid 1157196344, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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