Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Iran’s hardline former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad registered on Sunday as a possible presidential candidate. presidential electionwho seeks to regain the country’s highest political position after a helicopter crash killed the nation’s president.
The former populist leader’s registration puts pressure on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In office, Ahmadinejad openly defied the 85-year-old cleric, and authorities banned his attempt to run in 2021.
The return of the political firebrand who questions the Holocaust comes at a time of rising tensions between Iran and the West over the rapid advance of Tehran’s nuclear program, its supply of weapons to Russia in its war against Ukraine and its widespread crackdown on dissent.
Associated Press journalists in Tehran watched Ahmadinejad arrive at the Interior Ministry and begin the registration process. Before his arrival, his followers chanted slogans and waved Iranian flags.
He went down the stairs of the ministry and showed his passport, as is customary, to dozens of photographers and videojournalists present during the registration process. While a woman processed his candidacy, he sat down, turned to reporters, nodded and smiled for the cameras. He was expected to comment after concluding the registration of him.
An election is scheduled for June 28 to replace hardline president and Khamenei protégé Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash in May along with seven other people.
Ahmadinejad previously served two four-year terms, from 2005 to 2013. Under Iranian law, he became eligible to run again after four years out of office, but remains a polarizing figure even among his fellow hardliners. His controversial re-election in 2009 sparked massive protests by the “Green Movement” and a widespread repression in which thousands of people were detained and dozens killed.
Abroad, he became a caricature of Western perceptions of the Islamic Republic’s worst attribute, questioning the Holocaust, insisting that Iran had no gay or lesbian citizens, and implying that Iran could build a nuclear weapon if it so chose.
But Ahmadinejad remains popular among the poor for his populist efforts and housing construction programs. Since he left office, he has raised his profile through social media and written widely publicized letters to world leaders. He has also criticized government corruption, although his own administration faced corruption charges and two of his former vice presidents were jailed.
Khamenei warned Ahmadinejad in 2017 that running for office again would be a “polarized situation” that would be “detrimental to the country.” Khamenei said nothing during Ahmadinejad’s 2021 bid, when his candidacy was rejected by the 12-member Guardian Council, a panel of clerics and jurists ultimately overseen by Khamenei. That panel has never accepted a woman or anyone who calls for a radical change in the country’s governance.
That panel could reject Ahmadinejad again. However, the race to replace Raisi has yet to attract a candidate with clear and overwhelming support from Khamenei.
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Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
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