DUBAI: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will not run for president in next year’s Iranian election, he said on Tuesday, bowing to the wishes of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who warned his candidacy would increase divisions in Iran.
“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 hard-liner 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.”
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.
Ahmadinejad says will not run for president next year
Ahmadinejad says will not run for president next year
Iranian FM slams WEF’s double standards after revoking his invite, but keeping Israeli President’s
DUBAI: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has criticised the World Economic Forum (WEF) for rescinding his invitation to the annual meeting in Davos amid his government’s harsh crackdown on nationwide protests, accusing the forum of succumbing to Western pressure and applying “blatant double standards.”
The WEF confirmed that Araghchi will not attend this year’s summit, running until Jan. 23, saying that “although he was invited last fall, the tragic loss of lives of civilians in Iran over the past few weeks means that it is not right for the Iranian government to be represented at Davos this year.”
In a series of posts on X, Araghchi rejected the decision, claiming his appearance was cancelled “on the basis of lies and political pressure from Israel and its U.S.‑based proxies and apologists.”
The Iranian minister criticised what he called the WEF’s “blatant double standards” for keeping an invitation open to Israel’s president despite ongoing allegations of civilian deaths in Gaza. He also referenced Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s participation in last year’s forum in Davos in January 2024 despite facing charges of genocide at the International Criminal Court.
“If WEF wants to feign a supposedly ‘moral’ stance, that is its prerogative. But it should at least be consistent about it,” Araghchi wrote, arguing that the decision exposed a “moral depravity and intellectual bankruptcy.”
