Khamenei to Ahmadinejad Third Term: Thanks, but no thanks
Ahmadinejad is too “polarizing”
Looks like we won’t be treated to long, rambling speeches in which we are told that America is in league with the Devil, etc. Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told former two-time president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that his services won’t be needed in a third term.
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.
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