Ahmadinejad, former Revolutionary Guards member and Iran\u2019s president from 2005-2013, was barred from 2017 election
\n DUBAI
\nIran\u2019s hardline former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has registered to run for president in the country\u2019s June 28 election, organised after the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month, Iran\u2019s state television reported on Sunday.
\nHowever he could be barred from the race: the country\u2019s cleric-led Guardian Council will vet candidates, and publish the list of qualified ones on June 11.
\nAhmadinejad, a former member of Iran\u2019s elite Revolutionary Guards, was first elected as Iran\u2019s president in 2005 and stepped down because of term limits in 2013.
\nHe was barred from standing in the 2017 election by the Guardian Council, a year after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned him that entering was \u201cnot in his interest and that of the country\u201d.
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\nA rift developed between the two after Ahmadinejad explicitly advocated checks on Khamenei\u2019s ultimate authority.
\nIn 2018, in rare criticism directed at Khamenei, Ahmadinejad wrote to him calling for \u201cfree\u201d elections.
\nKhamenei had backed Ahmadinejad after his 2009 re-election triggered protests in which dozens of people were killed and hundreds arrested, rattling the ruling theocracy, before security forces led by the elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) stamped out the unrest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ahmadinejad, former Revolutionary Guards member and Iran\u2019s president from 2005-2013, was barred from 2017 election DUBAI Iran\u2019s hardline former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has registered to run for president in the country\u2019s June 28 election, organised after the death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash last month, Iran\u2019s state television reported on Sunday. However he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410461,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-410452","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n