TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — An adviser to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s former hard-line president, says the politician won’t seek re-election in next year’s presidential vote after apparently being discouraged by the country’s supreme leader.

Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency quoted Ali Akbar Javanfekr on Tuesday as saying Ahmadinejad sent a letter to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei saying he wouldn’t seek the presidency again.

In comments reported Monday, Khamenei was quoted as saying he recommended an unnamed candidate not seek office as it would spark a “polarized situation” that would be “harmful for the county.”

Ahmadinejad previously served two four-year terms. Iranian law calls only for a one-term cooling-off period.

During his presidency, Ahmadinejad repeatedly questioned the scale of the Nazi Holocaust and predicted the demise of Israel. He also greatly expanded Iran’s contested nuclear program. </s> Former two-term President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, a fierce conservative who was in power during a harsh crackdown on dissenters before seemingly falling afoul of Iran's supreme leader, has registered to run in next month's presidential vote.

It is unclear whether the powerful vetting body that routinely bars hundreds and even thousands of potential candidates from elections will approve his bid.

And he suggested his April 12 appearance was merely an attempt to raise the profile of a controversial political ally who registered alongside him for the race, Hamid Baghaei.

But Ahmadinejad's registration flies in the face of a public appeal by the country's highest political and religious authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Ahmadinejad left office in 2013 amid rumors of a falling-out with Khamenei and with the opposition still simmering over mass arrests and violence in a crackdown following protests over alleged irregularities in Ahmadinejad's reelection in 2009.

"If his candidacy is approved, then he hasn't been eliminated from Iran's political circle," Paris-based analyst Taghi Rahmani told RFE/RL's Radio Farda. "Ahmadinejad seems to believe he has nothing to lose. If he's disqualified, he believes that it would bring him honor in the future for standing up to [Khamenei]."

Khamenei was said to have indirectly cautioned Ahmadinejad last year against a new bid for the presidency, saying he had told "someone" who approached him for guidance to stay out of the election "both for his own good and also for the good of the country."

"I told him I do not find it advisable for him to participate," the 77-year-old Khamenei added in what was reported by Iranian media in September to be a reference to Ahmadinejad.

His candidacy could hint at a failure by conservatives and hard-liners to mount a unified challenge to incumbent President Hassan Rohani, who has not officially registered but held a wide-ranging press conference on the eve of the five-day registration period to tout his perceived achievements.

A former prosecutor with hard-line credentials who is also said to be a consideration to eventually replace Khamenei, Ebrahim Raisi, recently announced his own candidacy.

On April 12, Ahmadinejad told reporters that Khamenei had not expressly forbidden him from running. "The supreme leader recommended that I not participate in the election as a candidate. I accepted that, although his advice was not a ban. He said, 'I am not telling you whether to register or not,'" Ahmadinejad said.

Ahmadinejad said he was registering in support of former Vice President Baghaei, who applied to be a candidate alongside his former boss but could be excluded by the powerful Guardians Council over an arrest in 2015.

"Despite massive pressure from the people for me, a servant of the people, to enter the [race], I remain committed to my moral promise and I merely registered here to support my dear brother, Baghaei," Ahmadinejad told reporters after submitting his name.

Another member of Ahmadinejad's inner circle, former aide Esfandiari Rahim Mashaei, who was himself disqualified from the presidential race in 2013, was also present at the April 12 registration.

Hossein Rassam, a former adviser to the British Foreign Office, says he regards Ahmadinejad's move as an effort to impress on the authorities the potential price of a disqualification of Baghaei.

"It's an explicit warning, not just to the Guardians Council but also to Khamenei himself, that he would [be willing to renege] on the commitment he made on not running" if Baghaei is eliminated.

Rassam says the message was: "You stick to your side of the deal and I will stick to mine. [So] let Baghaei run."

Ahmadinejad's reelection in 2009 led to mass street protests amid allegations of extensive vote rigging. The establishment responded with a crackdown that left dozens of opposition protesters dead and thousands more people in jail, and allegations of widespread torture of those in custody.

But he also frequently traveled to Iran's regions with a populist message and promises of economic assistance from Tehran.

Ahmadinejad's presidency was marked by increasing domestic quarrels and tensions with the West.

He had said last week that he was not planning to run and would support Baghaei.

If allowed to run, Ahmadinejad could split the hard-line vote, Rassam says. "Ayatollah Khamenei wanted to avoid a polarized election when he asked Ahmadinejad not to run so that [Ahmadinejad] would not be representing one end of the [political] spectrum while Rohani is representing the other end," he says.

The Guardians Council has a record of disqualifying those it regards as a threat to the clerical establishment, including unelected officials like the supreme leader.

In 2013 it prevented ex-President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died earlier this year, from running again for the same office.

Baghaei was jailed for several months in 2015 on charges that remain unclear.

A final list of the candidates cleared to run is due to be released by April 27.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda reporter Mehrdad Ghassemfar, IRNA, and ISNA </s> Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian hardliner who presided over a period of deepening and damaging sanctions, has been blocked from running for president in Iran’s elections next year. 



The former president’s hopes were dashed after the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, indicated in public that he did not see the prospect of his candidacy as being in the interests of the country. 



In a letter published on Tuesday, Ahmadinejad announced he would not be running, submitting to the wishes of the 77-year-old ayatollah. 



It comes after months of speculation that Ahmadinejad had been building up a campaign to confront the current president, the moderate cleric Hassan Rouhani, in next year’s vote. Rouhani has to seek re-election if he wants to remain in power for another four years. Under Iranian law, presidents are only allowed two consecutive terms.

Earlier this month, the semi-official Fars news agency reported that the supreme leader had explicitly told Ahmadinejad he should not run. Later, two conservative politicians confirmed those reports.

On Monday, Khamenei’s official website, in an apparent move to put his opinion on the record, published the transcription of his speech during a meeting with a group of his followers.

“Someone came to see me and considering his own interests and the interests of the country, I told him he should not participate in that matter [elections],” Khamenei is quoted as saying. “I didn’t tell him not to participate, I told him I won’t recommend him participating.”

In his letter on Tuesday, which was addressed to Khamenei, Ahmadinejad revealed he had a meeting with the leader at the end of last month, during which he was told not to run.

“You recommended that it was not in [my] interests to run in the elections and I stated my obedience,” he wrote. 



In theory, Ahmadinejad can still put his name on the list as a nominee and the supreme leader does not have the automatic power to block him. In practice, however, the ayatollah has the ultimate power in all state matters.

The Guardian Council, a body of jurists and clerics who are close to Khamenei, vets all candidates before any elections in Iran, in a process that has been the subject of much controversy. There has been a heated debate over whether the Guardian Council has the constitutional footing to block candidates but in recent years, it has blocked many reformists and independents, as well as conservatives, from running in parliamentary and presidential elections. 



Despite the vetting process, which has raised questions about the fairness of Iranian elections, turnouts are usually high in presidential elections. Iranian leaders say the level of participation means the elections are legitimate.

The 2013 vote that put Rouhani in power was a contest between six candidates, all of whom were approved by the Guardian Council. 



In the months leading up to this week’s news, Ahmadinejad had indicated that he wanted to run, including by visiting provinces, becoming more active online and speaking at more occasions. 



It is not clear why Khamenei decided to make the issue public, but Ahmadinejad seemed to have continued his activities despite their meeting.

The relationship between the two was fraught in the final years of Ahmadinejad’s presidency because of a power struggle at the height of the Islamic Republic. Ahmadinejad took extraordinary measures to confront Khamenei, including threatening to resign. He was sidelined as Rouhani took office in 2013 but has become active.

Iranian elections have been full of surprises in recent years and it is not clear if Rouhani would face similar difficulties if he seeks re-election.

Khamenei has his own differences with Rouhani – he appears concerned about Rouhani’s associates, particularly his brother, Hossein Fereydoun. 



The ayatollah has made several controversial interventions, most notably in 2009 when he sided with Ahmadinejad against allegations of fraud, which led to a turbulent time in Iran.

The reverberations of that event are felt even today, with two of the four presidential candidates in the 2009 vote, who alleged the elections were stolen, still placed under arrest at the wishes of the leader. 



Ahmadinejad and Rouhani are at odds over multiple domestic and foreign policies, particularly over last year’s landmark nuclear deal, which the latter agreed to. Some believe that as a relatively young politician in Iran, Ahmadinejad and his inner circle may have their eyes on the period after Khamenei, who underwent prostate surgery in 2014. </s> Former leader insists he will not run in the May 19 poll, saying his registration aims to support a political ally.

In a surprise move, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's former president, has registered as a candidate for next month's presidential election.

Ahmadinejad had previously said he would not stand after being advised not to by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying he would instead support his former deputy, Hamid Baghaie, who also registered on Wednesday.

He said he remained committed to his "moral promise" to Khamenei of not running for the May 19 election.

Khamenei's "advice was not a ban", he said at the interior ministry where registration was taking place.

"I repeat that I am committed to my moral promise [of not running] and my presence and registration is only to support Mr Baghaie."

Ahmadinejad left office in August 2013 after two turbulent four-year terms, leaving the country divided domestically, isolated internationally and struggling economically.

In 2009, Ahmadinejad's re-election was followed by one the largest protests to hit the country since the Islamic revolution three decades before.

Two candidates backed by reformists Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi - who have been under house arrest since February 2011 - contested the results.

Both of Ahmadinejad's terms were also marked by anti-Western and anti-Israeli rhetoric, including questioning the Holocaust.

Ahmadinejad's populist approach and humble roots mean that he remains a popular figure among poorer sections of society. </s> TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — 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 to 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. But many hard-liners in Iran seek a tough-talking candidate to rally around who can stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump.

Iran’s moderate President Hassan Rouhani, who negotiated the nuclear deal with world powers, is expected to run for re-election. </s> TEHRAN - Iran’s former hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the shock move on Wednesday of registering for next month’s presidential election, going against the advice of the supreme leader.

Ahmadinejad had previously insisted he would not stand after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last year that his candidacy would have a “polarising” effect on the nation, and instead backed his ex-deputy Hamid Baghaie.

But the former president - whose tenure between 2005 and 2013 saw mass protests at home, plummeting relations with the West and a shattered economy - surprised everyone when he registered along with Baghaie on Wednesday.

He told reporters at the interior ministry, where registration was taking place, that he remained committed to his “moral promise” to Khamenei of not running for the May 19 election. But he said Khamenei’s “advice was not a ban”.

“I repeat that I am committed to my moral promise and my presence and registration is only to support Mr Baghaie,” he added without explanation.

Only last week, flanked by his former deputy at his first press conference in four years, Ahmadinejad said he had “no plans to present myself. I support Mr Baghaie as the best candidate.”

The formal registration period for presidential hopefuls began on Tuesday and will continue until Saturday evening, after which candidates are vetted by the conservative-dominated Guardian Council, with a final list to be announced on April 27.

So far, 197 people have registered to run in the May 19 vote, eight of them women. No woman has ever been allowed to stand for the presidency in the Islamic republic.

Ahmadinejad lost the support of many mainstream conservatives during his contentious presidency, and some said on Wednesday that violating the supreme leader’s advice was a final straw.

“With today’s move - registering for the presidential election, my belief in you was broken,” ex-lawmaker and Ahmadinejad loyalist Mehdi Koochakzadeh wrote on social media. “End of Ahmadinejad,” tweeted Elyas Naderan, another conservative former MP.

Analyst Farzan Sabet, a fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation in Stanford University, said his registration was indeed “shocking”.

But his motivation “may be to send an implicit threat to the Guardian Council that if they disqualify Baghaei - like they did his former chief-of-staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei in the 2013 presidential election - he will go back on his pledge and run for president,” said Sabet.

He added that the Guardian Council would find it hard to disqualify Ahmadinejad, a two-time president who previously had the firm support of conservatives and the supreme leader.

“Although it is quite possible that Ahmadinejad will be disqualified by the Guardian Council, this could turn out to be politically messy for them,” said Sabet.

The conservatives have been struggling to unite around a single candidate to challenge President Hassan Rouhani, who is expected to register in the coming days.

They held a mass meeting last week at which they shortlisted five candidates, who will be narrowed down to one before the vote, although some conservatives have already suggested they will run independently.

Ebrahim Raisi, a judge who currently heads the powerful Imam Reza charitable foundation in the Shiite Muslim holy city of Mashhad, topped the shortlist.

Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf was also on the list, but it remains unclear if he will make his third bid for the presidency.

Rouhani has stabilised the economy and ended some sanctions through a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

But many Iranians are frustrated by the continued lack of investment in the economy and a jobless rate that remains at 12 percent.

Rouhani’s administration argues it inherited a devastated economic landscape - the result of Ahmadinejad’s populist policies that included monthly cash handouts and ill-fated housing projects.

But these policies have also ensured Ahmadinejad, 60, retains considerable popularity, particularly among the poor, potentially undermining attempts by conservatives to unite their base around a mainstream candidate.

If Ahmadinejad is allowed to run, “he would likely draw more votes away from conservative candidates than from Rouhani,” said Sabet. </s> "In carrying out the intentions of the leader of the revolution, I have no plans to take part in the elections next year," Ahmadinejad said in a letter to Khamenei, published on his website dolatebahar.com.

Ahmadinejad, a hardliner who increased Iran's international isolation by refusing to negotiate about its nuclear program, had not announced a re-election bid, but several speeches in recent months had prompted speculation of a political comeback.

By ruling himself out, he has removed one potentially serious challenger to President Hassan Rouhani's bid for a second term at May's election, although he is still likely to face a challenger opposed to his policy of detente with the West.

Khamenei, who has the final say in all matters of state, was quoted on Monday as saying Ahmadinejad's candidacy would polarize society and "create ... divisions in the country which I believe is harmful".[nL8N1C210R]

Ahmadinejad was first elected president in 2005. His disputed re-election in 2009 prompted the biggest street protests in the Islamic Republic's history and a security crackdown in which several people were killed and hundreds arrested.

Iranian law bars a president from seeking a third consecutive term. But Ahmadinejad would have been able to run again after the gap caused by Rouhani's term.

"I will proudly remain a modest soldier of the revolution and a servant of the people," Ahmadinejad said. </s> 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.

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.

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.

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.” </s> An Iranian panel charged with vetting candidates approved the country’s incumbent president and five challengers but disqualified former hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from running in next month’s presidential election, state television reported Thursday.

The decision by the Guardian Council means that President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate, will face off against a field that includes two prominent hard-liners: Ebrahim Raisi, who is considered close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.

The Guardian Council, a cleric-dominated body that vets candidates, said it had compiled a final list of candidates earlier Thursday and that the Interior Ministry would announce their names by Sunday.

The panel controls elections and must approve all laws passed by parliament. It has never allowed a woman to run for president and routinely rejects political dissidents and others calling for dramatic reform.

Other presidential candidates who made the cut, according to an Interior Ministry statement carried by state TV, include moderate Senior Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri, former conservative culture minister Mostafa Mirsalim, and former pro-reform vice-president Mostafa Hashemitaba.

Ahmadinejad, who remains a deeply polarizing figure even among Iranian hard-liners, had shocked the country by registering last week. Khamenei had previously urged him not to run.

Ahmadinejad was president from 2005 to 2013, and was best known abroad for his incendiary rhetoric toward Israel, his questioning of the scale of the Holocaust and his efforts to ramp up Iran’s nuclear program.

He said upon registering that he was doing so to support his former Vice-President Hamid Baghaei, who also failed to receive approval to run.

“He was an unwanted guest in the election,” Tehran-based political analyst Soroush Farhadi said of Ahmadinejad’s disqualification. He predicted the former president would nonetheless remain politically active during the campaign to create a “quasi-opposition face for himself” for the future.

Ali Akbar Javanfekr, a close ally of Ahmadinejad, downplayed the two candidates’ exclusion, saying on social media that Ahmadinejad and Baghaei had only registered out of “national, religious and revolutionary duty.”

“Thank god, the Guardian Council removed the duty from their shoulders,” he wrote.

More than 1,600 people registered to run for the May 19 election.

Under Iran’s clerically overseen system, the president is subordinate to Khamenei, who is Iran’s top decision-maker and has the final say on all matters of state. Khamenei appoints half the Guardian Council’s members.

Rouhani, 68, is hoping voters will deliver him a second term to see out his promises of greater personal freedoms at home and openness to the wider world as he works to turn around Iran’s sagging economy — a top priority for many voters.

The election will be in many ways a referendum on his administration’s negotiation of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. That agreement gave Iran relief from crippling economic sanctions in exchange for limits to its nuclear program, but has been assailed by hard-liners who believe Iran gave too much away in exchange for too little.

While reliable polling information is not widely available, most political observers see Rouhani as the current front-runner even though he has been unable to significantly turn around Iran’s slumping economy. Every incumbent since Khamenei himself took the presidency in 1981 has won re-election.

Rouhani, though no radical, has the support of many reform-minded Iranians. Khamenei himself also might favour a second term for Rouhani despite his closeness to more hard-line candidates.

“Iranian presidents tend to become much weaker in their second terms, with a key cause being their greater susceptibility to control by the supreme leader and his institutions,” Mehdi Khalaji, an Iran expert at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, wrote this week. “This helps explain Khamenei’s possible abstention from active support for the hard-line candidates.”

Rouhani’s toughest challenge could come from Raisi, 56, a hard-line cleric and professor of Islamic law who has promised to fight poverty and corruption if he’s elected. Many hard-liners have rallied around Raisi, who got a boost last year when Khamenei appointed him head of an Islamic charity that holds extensive business interests in Iran.

He has held several judiciary positions, including serving as attorney general from 2014 to 2016, and is mentioned as a possible successor for Khamenei himself.
Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declines to run for a third term in the upcoming election. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has previously advised Ahmadinejad to not seek the presidency next year.