TEHRAN - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was Iran’s president from 2005 to 2013, has penned a letter to the Supreme Leader saying he will not run for the next year’s presidential election.

Ali Akbar Javanfekr, the media consultant to Ahmadinejad all through the two presidential terms, let slip the news on Tuesday, one day after the Leader implicitly confirmed he had advised the former president to stay out of the next year’s presidential election.

“Dr. Ahmadinejad announced in a letter to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic revolution that he has no plan to participate in the next year’s presidential election,” said Javanfekr.

Shortly after Javanfekr’s remarks, a copy of the letter went viral among Iranian news outlets.

“I should inform that in compliance with the Supreme Leader’s remarks, I have no plan to take part in in the next year’s presidential election,” read part of the letter.

Ahmadinejad’s tenure was peppered with controversial events and subjective law enforcements, causing distress both nationally and internationally.

During the period, the Iranian economy was grounded by unprecedented inflation rates, 40 percent by one account, considering deteriorating relations with the outside world.

The Ahmadinejad administration, inter alia, cut a state subsidy system not exactly the same way stipulated by law whose negative consequences are still with millions of the people.

In addition to a domestic populist policy, he pursued an imbalanced foreign policy, as well, particularly with European countries who were hostile to Iran’s nuclear program.

The decision by the Supreme Leader has been motivated, as he noted in his comments, by concerns that a polarized society will ensue if Ahmadinejad contests the next year’s presidential election.

Ahmadinejad’s record comes as a good justification for the concerns.

“Mr. Ahmadinejad did his outmost in the past to polarize the society and caused numerous unnecessary tensions,” said Kazem Jalali, a senior parliamentary figure.

“I hope Mr. Ahmadinejad takes the Leader’s advice seriously.”

Following the Leader’s comments, the Tasnim news agency issued an article saying, “It is certain that Ahmadinejad’s record and approach will generate an atmosphere one of whose primary yet main consequences is widespread unconstructive arguments and debates among the revolution’s sympathizers and event among the public.”

AK/PA</s>He has been credited, however, with cutting a bloated state subsidy system.

Ayatollah Khamenei made the statement about Mr. Ahmadinejad during a lecture for seminary students at his office. He was responding to rumors, circulating in Tehran for weeks, that he had barred Mr. Ahmadinejad from participating in the coming election.

“Someone, a man, came to me,” he said, presumably of Mr. Ahmadinejad, in the typically elliptical style of Shiite clerics. “I told him not to take part in that certain issue, both for his own and the country’s good.”

“I did not tell him not to participate,” the supreme leader continued. “I said, ‘I do not find it advisable that you participate.’ ”

Technically, under the Constitution, Ayatollah Khamenei can only advise possible candidates, he cannot legally bar them or judge their suitability. The vetting process is officially done by the 12-member Guardian Council. In practice, though, Ayatollah Khamenei’s statement amounts to an edict, and it is almost certainly hopeless for Mr. Ahmadinejad to try to mount a campaign against the supreme leader’s wishes.

Nevertheless, a website close to Mr. Ahmadinejad, Dolat-e Bahar, left open the possibility that he could run again. “While some point out that Master has made an order,” the website said, “he actually said that it is not expedient.”

The chances of his candidacy seem slim. “With these statements, the discussion of Ahmadinejad participating is finished,” a conservative lawmaker, Mohsen Kouhkan, told the website Asr-e Iran.</s>In a letter to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei on Tuesday, Ahmadinejad expressed his gratitude for the Leader’s “significant” statements at the beginning of an advanced course on Islamic religious studies held in Tehran on Monday.

“...acting upon the guidelines of the great Leader of the (Islamic) Revolution, I have no plans to participate in next year’s presidential contest,” he wrote in the letter.

On Monday, Ayatollah Khamenei called on Iranian political figures to avoid taking actions that could provoke polarity within the society, warning that enemies are waiting to take advantage of disagreements among Iran's political forces.

The Leader’s concern about polarization of the society came after speculation ran rampant that Ahmadinejad would run for president in the 2017 election.

Ayatollah Khamenei then confirmed that he has advised a gentleman (without mentioning a specific name) in a recent meeting to “avoid getting involved in a certain event (election)” for the good of the country and of that individual himself.

“I did not tell him (specifically) not to participate (run for president),” the Leader explained, saying the individual has been told that his involvement “is not deemed expedient.”

Imam Khamenei noted that a holistic view of the country’s situation and that specific figure’s conditions led to the recommendation that he had better avoid engagement in the event to prevent polarization of the country.

The Leader once again stressed that it was a recommendation, saying it was not about ruling, but about expediency.</s>This file photo taken on July 18, 2013 shows Iran's then outgoing president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking during a press conference at the presidential palace in Baghdad (AFP photo)

TEHRAN — Iran's controversial former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose two-term rule saw the country increasingly isolated internationally, has said he will not stand again following advice from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"In following the will of the great leader of the revolution, I have no plans to be present in next year's presidential competitions," he wrote in a letter to Khamenei made public by Iranian media on Tuesday.

Ahmadinejad's stand-down came a day after Khamenei, in cautiously worded remarks and without naming the ex-president, indicated that his standing again would be a mistake.

"A certain person came to me and I told him not to do a certain thing, believing it would be to the benefit of both the person himself and the country," Khamenei said.

He implied that an Ahmadinejad candidacy would have a polarising effect that would "damage the country".

Ahmadinejad, who was president between 2005 and 2013, said he had met Ayatollah Khamenei on August 30.

"I will forever remain the small soldier of the revolution and a servant of the people," he concluded in his letter.

Ahmadinejad had made numerous public appearances in recent months, leading to speculation that he was planning a comeback in next May's presidential election.

The news that he is not is likely to reassure moderate incumbent Hassan Rouhani, who is expected to stand for a second term in the May 19 vote.

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

His inflammatory rhetoric — particularly over Iran's nuclear programme and hostility towards Israel — was blamed for deepening tensions with the West and bringing down economic sanctions that Iran struggled for years to lift.

But Ahmadinejad's populist approach and humble roots mean that he remains a popular figure among poorer sections of society.

Rouhani, who oversaw a deal with world powers to end sanctions in exchange for curbing Tehran's nuclear programme, faces mounting pressure from conservatives who say the accord has brought few benefits.

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.

Street demonstrations were repressed by a regime which dubbed the protest movement "sedition" and its leaders "heads of the sedition".

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

After becoming president in 2005, he quickly became international news after a speech in which he argued that Israel was doomed to be "wiped off the map" and that the Holocaust was a "myth".

He also accelerated Tehran's atomic programme, triggering tensions with the West and fears of possible military action.

However, Ahmadinejad swept aside such criticism, calling the nuclear project an unstoppable train "without brakes and no reverse gear".

During the last years of his presidency, the international community imposed ever tougher sanctions that paralysed Iran's economy.

Rouhani was elected on a promise to resolve the nuclear issue and normalise relations with the outside world.

The nuclear agreement was reached with the major powers in July 2015 after two years of intense negotiations.

But despite it coming into force in January 2016 and some international sanctions being lifted, the economy's recovery is still pending.

Ahmadinejad's withdrawal from the presidential race comes as another conservative, Mohsen Rezai, former head of the elite Revolutionary Guards, also announced on Monday that he would not be a candidate next May.

More than eight months before the vote, political manoeuvring is already under way.

With Ahmadinejad out, the conservatives are trying to unite to support a single candidate to face Rouhani.

And Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf may also stand again, despite being a losing candidate twice, in 2005 and 2013.</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>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>Iran’s supreme leader has blocked former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from contesting next year’s elections, in a move that highlights the struggle among hardliners to identify a suitable candidate to take on Hassan Rouhani.

Mr Ahmadinejad has been touring the country in recent weeks to drum up support ahead of the May polls with regime hardliners desperate to prevent Mr Rouhani, the centrist president, from securing a second term.

But Ayatollah Khamenei, the Islamic republic’s ultimate decision-maker, said on Monday that if Mr Ahmadinejad ran in the election it “will be detrimental for the country”.

Analysts say his decision was intended to avoid provoking middle-class voters who fear that if the former president returned to office it would damage Iran’s international relations and could lead to a crackdown on reformers and a rise in corruption.

Mr Ahmadinejad, who served two terms from 2005 to 2013, is one of Iran’s most controversial political figures and gained notoriety for his belligerent stance towards the West, Israel and, eventually, Ayatollah Khamenei.

His re-election in 2009 for a second term triggered the biggest anti-regime protests since the 1979 revolution, and led to the deaths of scores of pro-democracy supporters. Mr Ahmadinejad is a populist who enjoys support among poorer Iranians, but his presidency was marred by widespread allegations of graft and restricting political freedoms.

In contrast, Mr Rouhani, who won the 2013 elections, has sought to improve relations with the West and oversaw a historic agreement with world powers last year to scale down Iran’s nuclear activities. In return, many western sanctions on the Islamic republic were lifted.

But hardliners argue that the nuclear agreement has failed to deliver any economic dividends for ordinary Iranians. Moderate forces counter that without the deal, Iran’s oil exports would be non-existent. They say the easing of sanctions has helped the currency stabilise and boosted economic growth.

“Under the circumstances, hardliners have no serious candidate who can win the election which leaves them with no choice but to attack Rouhani’s economic records,” said an official in the presidential office. “But we remain wary that hardliners may have a discrete plan to unveil their main candidate in the last minute.”

Analysts say Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Tehran’s mayor, who city residents credit for implementing major development projects in the capital, is one potential candidate .

But a whistleblower recently alleged that senior managers and members of the city council were sold land in Tehran at massive discounts. Mr Qalibaf denied the charges.

Another possibility is Ezzatollah Zarghami, former head of the state broadcaster and a close ally of Mr Ahmadinejad. But Iranian analysts say he lacks charisma and had a poor record of managing the broadcasting company.</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.
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.