Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad محمود احمدی‌نژاد
In 2006, the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust was held in Iran. There was also the Holocartoons website and the International Holocaust Cartoon Competition. Ahmadinejad himself has been accused of "Holocaust denial", is stated to have called the Holocaust a "myth", but what exactly he meant may be unclear, with there being various kinds of criticisms of the Holocaust. The context has been the conflict with Israel, support by Iran for the Muslim Palestinians, and use of the Holocaust by Zionists, rather than part of support for general freedom of speech by the Islamist Iran.
President of Iran
In office 3 August 2005 – 3 August 2013
Vice President	Parviz Davoodi Mohammad-Reza Rahimi
Leader	Ali Khamenei
Preceded by	Mohammad Khatami
Mayor of Tehran
In office 20 June 2003 – 3 August 2005
Deputy	Ali Saeedlou
Preceded by	Mohammad-Hassan Malekmadani
Succeeded by	Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf
Governor of Ardabil
In office 1 May 1993 – 28 June 1997
Preceded by	Hossein Taheri (East Azerbaijan)
Succeeded by	Javad Negarandeh
Born	28 October 1956 (1956-10-28) Aradan, Iran
Political party	Alliance of Builders (2003–present)
Other political affiliations	Islamic Society of Engineers (1990–2005)
Spouse(s)	Azam Farahi (1981–present)
Children	Mehdi Alireza Fatemeh
Residence	Sa'dabad Palace (Official) Gisha (Private)
Alma mater	Iran University of Science and Technology
Profession	Civil engineer
Religion	Twelver Shia Islam
Signature	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's signature
Website	Official website

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (b. 28 October 1956) is an Iranian politician who was the sixth President of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 2005 to 2013. He became President on 6 August 2005 after winning the 2005 Presidential election by popular vote. On 5 August 2009 he was sworn-in for his second term. Before becoming President, he was the Mayor of Tehran. He was the highest directly elected official in the country, but, according to Article 113 of Constitution of Iran, he had less total power than the religious Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Iran and has the final word in all aspects of foreign and domestic policies. Ahmadinejad's Presidential term ended on 3 August 2013 and he did not stand again for the office.

Life

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, shakes hands with anti-Zionist Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss, of Monsey, New York, at the start of the International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust in Tehran, 12 December 2006. Ahmadinejad initiated the two-day gathering. Mahmoud often stated, he is a anti-Zionist, but not an anti-Semite.

Ahmadinejad has spoken out about the problems caused by international Zionism and historical narratives of the 20th century prepared as a form of psychological warfare. Despite a well financed propaganda campaign to attack his election win of 2009, specifically in conjunction with an attempt to create a George Soros style colour "pseudo-revolution" in the form of the Green movement, no solid evidence of wrong-doing has been provided. As President, Ahmadinejad has visited the West for talks as an attempt to establish mutual understanding and respect.

Ahmadinejad, the son of a blacksmith, grew up in Tehrān, where in 1976 he entered the Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST) to study civil engineering. During the Iranian Revolution (1978–79), he was one of the student leaders who organized demonstrations. After the revolution, like many of his peers, he joined the Revolutionary Guards, a religious militia group formed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Parallel to his service with the Revolutionary Guards in the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88), he continued his studies at IUST, eventually earning a doctorate in transportation engineering and planning. Following the war, he served in various positions until 1993, when he was appointed governor of the newly established Ardabīl province. After his term as governor ended in 1997, he returned to IUST as a lecturer. Ahmadinejad helped establish Ābādgarān-e Īrān-e Eslāmī (Developers of an Islamic Iran), which promoted a populist agenda and sought to unite the country’s conservative factions. The party won the city council elections in Tehrān in February 2003, and in May the council chose Ahmadinejad to serve as mayor. As mayor of Tehrān, Ahmadinejad was credited with solving traffic problems and keeping prices down.

Personal Life and Education

Ahmadinejad, the son of a blacksmith, was born in Garmsar, near Tehran on October 28, 1956. In 1976, he took Iran's national university entrance exams (konkoor) to gain admission into Iran's top universities. His test score ranked him 132nd among over 400,000 participants that year, landing him at the Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST) as an undergraduate student of civil engineering.

After the Iranian Revolution, he entered the Master of Science program for civil engineering in 1984. In 1989, he became a member of the Science faculty at the university where he had studied. In 1997, he received his Ph.D. in transportation engineering and planning from the Science and Technology University. Even after being elected President, Ahmadinejad continued living in a simple apartment flat and eating meals brought from home, in his office. Ahmadinejad is married with two sons and one daughter.

Early Political Career

Ahmadinejad served as Governor General of Ardabil Province from 1993 to 1997 but was not a nationally known figure when he was elected Mayor of Tehran on May 3, 2003. During his mayorship, he reversed many of the changes put into effect by previous moderate and reformist mayors.

He was not much better known when he entered the presidential election campaign, although he had already made his mark for rolling back earlier reforms. After his election to the presidency, Ahmadinejad resigned from his post as the mayor of Tehran. His resignation was accepted on June 28, 2005.

Electoral history

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

Presidency (2005 to 2013)

Presidential campaign

Ahmadinejad generally sent mixed signals about his plans for his presidency, which some US-based analysts considered to have been designed to attract both religious conservatives and the lower economic classes. His campaign motto was, "It's possible and we can do it."

In his presidential campaign, Ahmadinejad took a populist approach, with emphasis on his own modest life, and compared himself with Mohammad Ali Rajai, the second president of Iran. Ahmadinejad said he had plans to create an "exemplary government for the people of the world" in Iran. He is a self-described "principlist"; that is, acting politically based on Islamic and revolutionary principles. One of his goals has been "putting the petroleum income on people's tables", referring to Iran's oil profits being distributed among the poor.

Ahmadinejad was the only presidential candidate who spoke out against future relations with the United States. In an interview with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting a few days before the elections, Ahmadinejad accused the United Nations of being "one-sided, stacked against the world of Islam." He has openly opposed the veto power given to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. In the same interview, he stated, "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 has defended Iran's nuclear program and has accused "a few arrogant powers" of attempting to limit Iran's industrial and technological development in this and other fields.

After his election he proclaimed, "Thanks to the blood of the martyrs, a new Islamic revolution has arisen and the Islamic revolution of 1384 [the current Iranian year] will, if God wills, cut off the roots of injustice in the world." He said, that "the wave of the Islamic revolution" would soon "reach the entire world."

During his campaign for the second round, he said, "We didn't participate in the revolution for turn-by-turn government.…This revolution tries to reach a world-wide government." Also he has mentioned that he has an extended program on fighting terrorism in order to improve foreign relations and has 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." Since his election to the presidency he has taken a tough stand on a number of foreign policy matters, in line with his hard-line background.

As confirmed by Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a senior cleric from Qom, is President Ahmadinejad's ideological mentor and spiritual guide. Mesbah is the founder of Haghani School of thought in Iran. He and his team strongly supported Ahmadinejad's campaign during presidential election in 2005.

Election and Term

Ahmadinejad became the 6th President of Iran on August 6, 2005, after winning 62% of the vote in the run-off poll, nearly twice that of ex-President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. He received the presidential authorization from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei on August 3, 2005. During the authorization ceremony he kissed Khamenei's hand in demonstration of his loyalty to him. Journalist Amir Taheri claims that Khamenei's eldest son Mujtaba acted as Ahmadinejad's campaign manager during the election. Ahmadinejad's current term will end in August 2009, but he will be eligible to run for one more term in office in 2009 presidential elections.

Cabinet

Ahmadinejad was required to introduce his suggested ministers to Majlis for a vote of approval in fifteen days, after which Majlis would have one week to decide about the ministers. It was mentioned by Masoud Zaribafan, Ahmadinejad's campaign manager, that Ahmadinejad would probably introduce his cabinet on the same day of his vow, which did not happen, but the list was finally sent to the Majlis on August 14. The Majlis were set to vote on the suggested ministers by August 21.

The parliament had held a private meeting on August 5, when Ahmadinejad presented a shortlist of three or four candidates for each ministry, to know the opinion of Majlis about his candidates. The final list was officially sent to the Majlis on 14 August 2005.