Iran's ex-president Ahmadinejad registers to run in presidential elections, state TV says
Iran's ex-president Ahmadinejad is running in the country's upcoming snap elections despite tensions with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran's hardliner former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has registered to run for president in the country's upcoming snap elections organized after the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash, Iran's state television reported on Sunday.
The country's cleric-led Guardian Council will vet candidates and publish the list of qualified ones on June 11.
A contentious history
Ahmadinejad previously served as president from 2005 to 2013. The Guardian Council barred Ahmadinejad from running again in 2017, a year after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned him that entering the race was "not in his interest and that of the country," Reuters reported.
Tensions deepened between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei when Ahmadinejad advocated for checks on the supreme leader's authority and called for free elections.
Previously, Khamenei supported Ahmadinejad after his 2009 re-election caused protests in which dozens of people were killed and hundreds arrested.
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