In surprise move, Iran’s Ahmadinejad registers to run for president

Defying Khamenei, hardliner ex-president to challenge incumbent Rouhani in May elections

Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gives a press conference in Tehran, Iran on April, 5, 2017. (AP/Ebrahim Noroozi)
Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gives a press conference in Tehran, Iran on April, 5, 2017. (AP/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Iran’s former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has filed to run in the country’s May presidential election, contradicting a recommendation from the nation’s supreme leader that he stay out of the race.

Associated Press journalists watched as stunned election officials processed Ahmadinejad’s paperwork on Wednesday.

Ahmadinejad previously said he wasn’t going to run after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei advised him not to, saying he would instead support his former deputy Hamid Baghaei who also registered on Wednesday.

At a press conference Wednesday, Ahmadinejad called Khamenei’s comments “just advice,” and described his registering for the election as helping Baghaei, a close confidant.

Many hard-liners in Iran seek a tough-talking candidate to rally around who can stand up to US President Donald Trump. But Ahmadinejad’s candidacy could expose the fissures inside Iranian politics that linger since his contested 2009 re-election, which brought massive unrest.

Iranians arrive to the interior ministry's election headquarters as candidates begin to sign up for the upcoming presidential elections in Tehran on April 11, 2017. (AFP/ATTA KENARE)
Iranians arrive to the interior ministry’s election headquarters as candidates begin to sign up for the upcoming presidential elections in Tehran on April 11, 2017. (AFP/ATTA KENARE)

Iran’s moderate President Hassan Rouhani, who negotiated the nuclear deal with world powers, is expected to run for re-election.

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 he remains a polarizing figure, even among fellow hard-liners.

Ahmadinejad was reviled in Israel and the West for repeatedly questioning the scale of the Holocaust, calling for the destruction of the Jewish state and expanding Iran’s contested nuclear program.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits the Natanz enrichment facility in 2008 (photo credit: www.president.ir)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits the Natanz enrichment facility in 2008 (photo credit: www.president.ir)

Two of his former vice presidents have been jailed for corruption since he left office. Iran’s economy suffered under heavy international sanctions during his administration because of Western suspicions that Tehran was secretly pursuing nuclear weapons. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

In this Monday, June 15, 2009 file photo, hundreds of thousands of supporters of leading opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims there was voting fraud in Friday's election, turn out to protest the result of the election at a mass rally in Azadi (Freedom) square in Tehran, Iran. (photo credit: AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)
In this Monday, June 15, 2009, photo, hundreds of thousands of supporters of leading opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims there was voting fraud in Friday’s election, turn out to protest the result of the election at a mass rally in Azadi (Freedom) square in Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election in 2009 sparked massive protests and a sweeping crackdown in which thousands of people were detained, dozens killed and others tortured.

The memory of the 2009 unrest likely sparked Khamenei’s comments in September. At that time, he recommended an unnamed candidate not seek office as it would bring about a “polarized situation” that would be “harmful for the county.”

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