Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was born on October 28, 1956, in Aradan, near Garmsar in Iran, southeast of Tehran.[1][3] He was the fourth son among seven children in a blacksmith's family.[1] In 1957 the family relocated to Tehran in search of better economic opportunities, and it was at this point that they adopted the surname Ahmadinejad; he had been born Mahmoud Saborjhian.[1]

Ahmadinejad enrolled at Iran University of Science and Technology to study civil engineering, with sources placing his entry in either 1975 or 1976; he had ranked 130th nationally in the 1975 university entrance examinations.[1] He later joined the university's civil-engineering faculty and taught there during periods between approximately 1989 and 2003.[1] He subsequently earned a doctorate in transportation engineering and planning — a degree the Congressional Research Service describes as coming from Tehran's University of Science and Technology — though the date of the degree is disputed in the available sources: one account places it in 1987, while his own website biography and the Jewish Virtual Library both give 1997.[1][3]

After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Ahmadinejad became involved with the Revolutionary Guards. Following Iraq's invasion of Iran in 1980, he volunteered for service during the Iran-Iraq War.[1] The Congressional Research Service reports that he formally joined the Revolutionary Guards in 1986 and also served as an instructor for the Basij paramilitary.[3]

Accounts of his wartime role describe him as having been briefly attached to an engineering unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps before joining a Revolutionary Guards intelligence unit.[7] His name was associated with a 1987 Revolutionary Guards operation that reportedly infiltrated more than 100 miles into Iraq to conduct sabotage operations near Kirkuk.[7] By 1986 he was described as a member of the elite Special Brigade of Revolutionary Guards.[1] Precise details of his combat role remained unclear in the available sources, in part because he had been seconded from the Basij rather than serving as a formal IRGC officer.[7]

Following the war, Ahmadinejad moved into administrative roles within the security and governance apparatus. The Congressional Research Service records him as having served as governor of Maku and Khoy and as adviser to the governor-general of Kurdestan, as well as working as an adviser for cultural affairs to Iran's minister of culture and higher education before being appointed to a more senior provincial role.[3][1]

Ahmadinejad served as governor-general of Ardabil province from 1993 to 1997.[1][3] When Mohammad Khatami won the presidential election in 1997 and a more reformist administration took power, Ahmadinejad was removed from the governorship and returned to teaching at Iran University of Science and Technology.[1]

In May 2003, Tehran's conservative-dominated city council appointed him mayor of the capital, a position he held until entering the presidential race in 2005.[1][3] His mayoral priorities included improving local services, repairing roads, upgrading the city's chaotic traffic system, countering Western “decadence,” and building a powerful modern Islamic Iran.[3]

As mayor, Ahmadinejad imposed a range of cultural restrictions. He converted some cultural centers into prayer centers, closed Western fast-food restaurants, ordered the covering of billboard advertisements featuring David Beckham, restricted newly proliferating Internet cafés, and cancelled certain secular entertainment events.[1] He cultivated a populist public image, reportedly wearing a street sweeper's uniform to gain the support of city workers, bringing his own lunch to work, avoiding limousine transportation, and driving a 1977 Peugeot he had owned for years.[1] During his mayoralty, the municipality-owned newspaper Hamshahri was transformed into a propaganda organization.[8]

Ahmadinejad entered Iran's 2005 presidential race as a relative unknown and won the runoff on June 24, 2005, against former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.[3] The Congressional Research Service reports approximately 22 million runoff votes were cast at a turnout of roughly 60 percent, with Ahmadinejad receiving approximately 62 percent of ballots to Rafsanjani's 35.9 percent — a result corresponding to 17,046,441 votes for Ahmadinejad and 9,841,346 for Rafsanjani in the raw count.[1][3] He was inaugurated in August 2005 and became the first non-cleric to hold the Iranian presidency in 24 years.[3]

The 2005 election was widely viewed outside Iran as neither free nor fair. The Guardian Council had initially approved only six of 1,014 registered candidates, excluded all 89 female candidates, and barred candidates critical of the leadership; two additional candidates were later reinstated after intervention by the Supreme Leader.[9] Complaints were recorded of military and Basij interference, the absence of international observers, and procedural irregularities; the Guardian Council nonetheless validated the runoff result on June 29.[9]

Ahmadinejad was reelected on June 12, 2009, with the explicit support of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.[2] The Interior Ministry reported approximately 39 million votes, an 85 percent turnout, and 62 percent for the incumbent.[10] The Guardian Council confirmed the result after recounting a randomly selected 10 percent of ballots, while challenger Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Mehdi Karrubi, and former president Mohammad Khatami rejected the result and alleged widespread vote rigging, ballot irregularities, and communications restrictions.[10] The disputed outcome triggered mass demonstrations in Tehran, Mashhad, Tabriz, Shiraz, Isfahan, and other cities on a scale described as unprecedented since Iran's 1979 Revolution — protests that became associated with the Green Movement.[10][7]

Basij and Revolutionary Guard forces reportedly used tear gas and live ammunition on June 20. Ten deaths were reported that day, bringing the unofficial toll to at least 17; Iranian government figures as of July 1 listed 627 arrests and 27 deaths since June 13.[10] Restrictions on journalists and communications made the figures difficult to substantiate.[10] Legislative term limits barred Ahmadinejad from seeking a third consecutive term, and Hassan Rouhani won the June 2013 election to succeed him.[2]

As president, Ahmadinejad increased social spending while maintaining a conservative religious agenda.[1] Contrary to predictions by some observers, he did not impose stricter Islamic dress codes on Iranian women and actually liberalized regulations concerning women's attendance at sporting events.[1]

A Jerusalem Center analysis reports that Ahmadinejad staffed his first government heavily with veterans of the Revolutionary Guards and the Iran-Iraq War. Iran-Iraq War veterans received nine of 21 ministerial portfolios; Mostafa Mohammad Najjar became defense minister after serving as an IRGC brigadier general, and Ahmad Vahidi later became defense minister after commanding the Quds Force.[7] The analysis also reports that Ahmadinejad replaced governors in all 30 provinces with Revolutionary Guards officers and other security-service officials, a development that one former Islamic Republic prosecutor-general described as a “military takeover.”[7]

The same analysis identifies Ahmadinejad's invocation of the Twelfth or Hidden Imam, whom Twelver Shiites expect to return as the Mahdi, as a recurring ideological feature of his presidency. Shortly after his 2005 election, he declared that “Our revolution's main mission is to pave the way for the reappearance of the Mahdi.” In September 2005 he sponsored an International Conference of Mahdism Doctrine in Tehran and required cabinet members to sign a symbolic pledge of allegiance to the Twelfth Imam.[7] In his first address to the UN General Assembly, on September 17, 2005, he concluded with a prayer for the Mahdi's emergence, asking God to hasten the appearance of the “perfect and pure human being” who would fill the world with justice and peace.[7]

Relations between Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei grew visibly strained during the second term. In April 2011, Ahmadinejad dismissed Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi, who was close to Khamenei. Within a week, Khamenei forced Ahmadinejad to reinstate Moslehi, and the Revolutionary Guards leadership sided with the Supreme Leader. The Jerusalem Center analysis presents the episode as an open demonstration of the limits of the president's authority within Iran's power structure.[7]

The Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) operated under nominal presidential supervision throughout Ahmadinejad's tenure. He appointed Qolam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei as intelligence minister in 2005 and Heydar Moslehi in 2009. The U.S. Treasury Department stated that MOIS was involved in the detention of U.S. nationals, including former FBI agent Robert Levinson and hikers Shane Bauer, Joshua Fattal, and Sarah Shourd.[11]

Iran's economy suffered under heavy international sanctions during Ahmadinejad's administration, imposed because Western governments suspected Tehran of secretly pursuing nuclear-weapons capability.[4]

Ahmadinejad consistently maintained and defended Iran's nuclear program despite pressure from Western governments and the United Nations.[1] Iran presented the program as necessary for domestic energy needs; Western leaders viewed the civilian program as a potential route to nuclear-weapons development.[1] Ahmadinejad denied military aims, argued that Iran's religion prohibited nuclear weapons, and defended Iranian compliance with international nuclear protocols.[1]

In 2006, he sent U.S. President George W. Bush an 18-page letter criticizing American foreign policy and posted a “Message to the American People” on his website, while simultaneously defending Iran's nuclear posture and criticizing countries that possessed nuclear arsenals while scrutinizing Iran.[1] UN sanctions were imposed after Iran refused to halt uranium enrichment, and Ahmadinejad defended Iran's military self-sufficiency against the sanctions.[3] In November 2007 he claimed Iran had reached a target of 3,000 operating uranium-enriching centrifuges; an IAEA report at the time cited close to 2,000 working centrifuges at Natanz with another 650 under testing.[3]

Iran's previously undisclosed uranium-enrichment facility at Natanz had been exposed in 2002, and Iran's progress toward nuclear capability was documented but not deterred by UN and IAEA diplomacy during the following years.[12] In late October 2009, during a speech in Mashhad, Ahmadinejad indicated support for a proposed nuclear-fuel arrangement discussed in Geneva and Vienna, under which approximately 80 percent of Iran's 2,600 pounds of 3.5-percent low-enriched uranium would be sent to Russia for further enrichment and returned to Iran as metal fuel rods for medical-isotope production.[12] He stated: “We welcome exchange of fuel, technical cooperation and construction of power plants and reactors. We are ready for cooperation.”[12] Iran subsequently reneged on the preliminary agreement and sought revised terms more explicitly favorable to its position.[12]

In September 2009, Ahmadinejad declared that “the nuclear issue is finished” and that Iran would not negotiate away what he called the Iranian nation's rights.[13] The same analysis cited U.S. ambassador to the IAEA Glyn Davies as saying that Iran possessed enough low-enriched uranium for at least one atomic bomb under a potential breakout scenario; this was an assessment of Iran's material stockpile, not confirmation that Iran possessed a weapon.[13] Following the collapse of the 2009 fuel arrangement, the Obama administration shifted toward narrowly targeted sanctions against the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps while leaving open the possibility of renewed engagement.[12]

Ahmadinejad's most internationally notorious statements concerned Israel. On October 26, 2005, at a Tehran conference titled “The World Without Zionism,” he quoted Ayatollah Khomeini as calling for the regime occupying Jerusalem to be “eliminated from the pages of history.”[14] He also said that Israel must be “wiped off the map.”[5] Contemporary reporting described him as calling Israel a “disgraceful blot” and a “fabricated” entity.[15] He called for a new wave of Palestinian attacks to destroy the Jewish state and denounced any recognition of Israel or normalization of relations with it.[5] He also described the conflict as an “historical war” between the West and the Islamic world and stated that “a world without America and Zionism” was attainable, repeating the remarks during the October 28 Al-Quds demonstrations.[14]

Scholarly analysis notes that Ahmadinejad used inflammatory political rhetoric to repeatedly delegitimize and threaten Israel's existence throughout his presidency, framing this within an ideological position he appeared to share with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — that a just resolution for Palestinians required the elimination of the Jewish state.[12] His foreign-policy rhetoric has been interpreted as serving several simultaneous political purposes: consolidating support among hard-line religious figures, outmaneuvering domestic opponents by setting Iran's foreign-policy tone, enhancing Iran's leadership role and leverage in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and generating popularity for Iran among Arab populations whose governments were supported by the West.[12] Despite these proposed pragmatic motives, the rhetoric intensified Israeli concerns that Iran might use nuclear leverage against Israeli security.[12]

In 2008, Ahmadinejad stated that Iran would support Hamas until Israel's destruction.[16] In September 2012, he again said that Israel had no historical roots in the region and did not enter Iran's calculations, and further argued that the Holocaust had served as an excuse for establishing Israel and that removing the Holocaust from the political narrative would undermine the philosophical basis for Israel's existence.[17] In 2007, Ahmadinejad appeared at Columbia University and the United Nations; Rabbi David Ellenson, president of Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, publicly explained why he and others had refused an invitation to participate in so-called interfaith dialogue with Ahmadinejad.[18]

Ahmadinejad's systematic denial of the Holocaust was a sustained policy of his presidency rather than an isolated provocation.[8] His public denial campaign began in December 2005. At a December 8, 2005 press conference in Mecca, he stated, “We do not believe this assertion,” in reference to the account that Hitler had killed millions of Jews in gas chambers, adding that anyone who stated the contrary was imprisoned in Europe.[19] On December 13, he said Europeans had created a “myth” called the Holocaust.[17] On December 14, he called it a “myth” again while urging that Jews be given territory in Europe, the United States, Canada, or Alaska, arguing that Palestinians should not bear the consequences of what he characterized as a European action.[20]

Yad Vashem condemned these remarks as genocidal statements by the leader of a UN member state against another UN member state, placing them in the context of Ahmadinejad's repeated prior calls for Israel's destruction.[20] His December 2005 statements also included the claim that a person who challenged the Holocaust could be imprisoned in the West, while Iran would bring the subject to global attention.[17]

In December 2006, Iran hosted an International Conference on Review of the Holocaust: Global Vision in Tehran, attended by Ahmadinejad himself.[8][21] Speakers called for eliminating or delegitimizing Israel and characterized the Holocaust as nonexistent or exaggerated for Jewish political and financial purposes.[21] Ahmadinejad addressed the conference, stating: “Just as the Soviet Union was wiped out and today does not exist, so will the Zionist regime soon be wiped out.”[19] The Iranian Foreign Ministry reported that participants came from 30 countries; most sessions were closed, and a new foundation for Holocaust studies was announced with Mohammad Ali Ramin as secretary-general.[19]

During Ahmadinejad's presidency, the Tehran municipality-owned newspaper Hamshahri announced an international Holocaust-cartoon competition in February 2006 amid riots over Danish Muhammad cartoons. The competition received 1,193 entries from artists in 63 countries, and a selection was displayed in Tehran in August 2006.[8] The collection included Holocaust-denial imagery, Holocaust inversion, conspiracy themes, and other antisemitic motifs.[19]

In September 2012, Ahmadinejad stated that the Holocaust had served as an excuse for establishing Israel and that removing it from the political narrative would undermine the philosophy of Israel's existence.[17] At his farewell ceremony in 2013, he described publicizing Holocaust denial as one of his major achievements as president, stating that it had been a taboo subject that no one in the West allowed to be heard, that his government had brought it to the global level, and that this had “broke the spine of the Western capitalist regime.”[6]

Following his presidency, Ahmadinejad became a member of Iran's Council for the Discernment of Expediency, a body that resolves legislative issues and advises Iran's Supreme Leader on national policy.[11]

In 2017, Ahmadinejad initially said he would support former deputy Hamid Baghaei and would not seek the presidency again, but he subsequently registered as a presidential candidate despite explicit advice from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei not to enter the race. Ahmadinejad characterized Khamenei's comments as “merely advice.”[4] His reemergence in the political arena reinforced the World Jewish Congress's characterization of him as a polarizing figure even among Iranian hardliners, known for repeatedly questioning the Holocaust, attacking Israel and the United States, and taking a hard-line stance against regime critics.[4]

On September 18, 2023, the U.S. Treasury Department designated Ahmadinejad under Executive Order 14078 for materially assisting, sponsoring, or supporting Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security. Concurrently, he was identified under Executive Order 13599 as meeting the definition of the Government of Iran. Treasury described the action as promoting accountability for the wrongful detention of U.S. nationals.[11]

Assessments of Ahmadinejad after his presidency continued to emphasize his polarizing position, including among Iranian hardliners.[4] His record remained associated with the disputed 2009 election and ensuing crackdown, confrontation with Western governments over Iran's nuclear program, expanded political influence for Revolutionary Guards veterans, and repeated attacks against Israel and denial of the Holocaust.[10][7] The U.S. Treasury's 2023 designation further tied his presidential record to the activities of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security and the detention of U.S. nationals.[11]

Several significant controversies surround Ahmadinejad's biography and career, some of which remain unresolved in the available record.

One dispute concerns the English rendering of Ahmadinejad's October 2005 statement that Israel should be “wiped off the map.” While that phrasing was widely reported, some Iranian and other commentators interpreted the statement as a prediction that Israel would eventually disappear rather than a literal call for military destruction.[14] The remarks were internationally condemned, including by the UN Security Council, while Supreme Leader Khamenei declined to repudiate them but said Iran would not commit aggression against any nation.[9] Regardless of the translation debate, the accompanying statements calling for Palestinian attacks on Israel and denouncing any normalization of relations with it provide broader context for the speech.[5]

Allegations of Ahmadinejad's involvement in the 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran are disputed. Some former American hostages alleged he was among the captors, while Ahmadinejad denied this. Accounts differ over whether he participated in planning sessions, opposed the takeover, or advocated simultaneous attacks on both the U.S. and Soviet embassies; the available sources do not resolve the dispute.[1] Separately, an Austrian parliament member, citing unnamed Iranian sources, accused him of acting as a lookout during the 1989 Vienna assassination of Kurdish leader Abdul Rahman Ghassemlou. Newsweek reported that U.S. intelligence found no evidence to support the allegation, and Austrian authorities were reportedly investigating it as of 2006; the claim remains unsubstantiated in the cited material.[1]

A report by the Daily Telegraph, noted by the World Jewish Congress, alleged that Ahmadinejad's family had been Jewish before converting to Islam when he was four years old and that his original family name, Sabourjian, was an officially recognized Jewish name in Iran. Ahmadinejad never publicly stated that original name, and the report is presented in the available sources as an allegation based on newspaper reporting rather than verified biography.[22]