Ahmadinejad registers to run for president

TEHRAN: Iran's former hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the shock move on Wednesday of registering for next month's presidential election, going against the advice of the supreme leader, reports AFP.
Ahmadinejad had previously insisted he would not stand after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last year that his candidacy would have a "polarising" effect on the nation, and instead backed his ex-deputy Hamid Baghaie.
But the former president -- whose tenure between 2005 and 2013 saw mass protests at home, plummeting relations with the West and a shattered economy -- surprised everyone when he registered along with Baghaie on Wednesday.
He told reporters at the interior ministry, where registration was taking place, that he remained committed to his "moral promise" to Khamenei of not running for the May 19 election.

Ahmadinejad registers to run for president

TEHRAN: Irans former hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the shock move on Wednesday of registering for next months presidential election, going against the advice of the supreme leader, reports AFP. Ahmadinejad had previously insisted he would not stand after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last year that his candidacy would have a polarising effect on the nation, and instead backed his ex-deputy Hamid Baghaie. But the former president -- whose tenure between 2005 and 2013 saw mass protests at home, plummeting relations with the West and a shattered economy -- surprised everyone when he registered along with Baghaie on Wednesday. He told reporters at the interior ministry, where registration was taking place, that he remained committed to his moral promise to Khamenei of not running for the May 19 election.