Makhmud Akhmadinedzhad President of Iran since August 2005 Date of Birth: 28.10.1956 Country: Iran

Biography of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was born on October 28, 1956, and served as the president of Iran from August 2005. He has an engineering education obtained in Iran and has ties to the military-political formations "Basij" and "Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps."

In the late 1970s, Ahmadinejad was one of the students who seized the US embassy, and according to some reports, he proposed to do the same with the Soviet embassy. In 2003, Ahmadinejad was elected as the mayor of Tehran. On August 5, 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected as the president of Iran, and on August 6, he took the oath in the country's parliament, promising to uphold the sacred religion of Shiite Islam and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not an Islamic scholar but a technocrat, raised in the Shiite tradition. Therefore, his pre-election program was primarily based on economic populism, promising to address the social problems that had accumulated over the years. It was through these promises that he surpassed his main rival, the Islamic intellectual and former president of Iran, Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Ahmadinejad's presidency did not mark any significant breakthrough in the socio-economic sphere. Even the formation of the cabinet of ministers proved to be difficult, as there was no key oil minister for some time. Apparently, these failures compelled the Iranian president to resort to certain "compensatory acts" in his external and internal political rhetoric. In the case of Iran, these acts inevitably take on a religious character.

One notable step in this direction was his statement about the need to wipe Israel off the map (especially when Iran possesses the Shahab-3 missile for this purpose). It was claimed that Ahmadinejad was merely repeating the statements of Ayatollah Khomeini. However, this is incorrect. The Imam had a dislike for Israel but never called for active actions against the country. Furthermore, the political paradigm in Iran, as in some other Muslim countries, involves the non-acceptance of Israel as a Zionist state, even denying its right to be considered Jewish. Iranians also emphasize their cultural and religious connection with Judaism, as there is a large Jewish community in Iran.

Another significant gesture can be seen in Ahmadinejad's actions to reform the structure and activities of the government, promoting the idea of the imminent appearance of Imam Mahdi (according to Shiite beliefs, he disappeared and will reappear at the end of times). To fulfill this, Ahmadinejad has been holding government meetings in various provinces of the country, explaining to ministers what an Islamic Revolutionary bureaucrat should be like – simple in communication, modest in life, and close to the people. Additionally, an order was issued to prohibit the import of cars costing more than 330,000 dollars, presumably to hasten the arrival of Mahdi. Such vehicles are primarily purchased by officials from the economy.

According to some Western analysts, as a result of these measures, the young president exhausted his entourage and the bureaucracy in less than six months. It is worth noting that during one of his recent trips to the north of the country, Ahmadinejad called for an end to the growth of so-called house churches. These are unregistered associations, mainly Protestant and Pentecostal. Their pastors and congregations are usually converts from Islam. Shortly after this statement, one of these self-proclaimed pastors was killed, and his body was dumped near his house. Other preachers also periodically face repression.

Ahmadinejad's recent statements, such as proposing to relocate Israel to European territory and denying the Holocaust, have essentially gone beyond the political sphere, deeply offending the spiritual sensitivities of many people and the traditions of many societies. Conservative ideas have never been stronger in Iran, and the nuclear program stands as a national idea, making Iran's position even more uncompromising in negotiations with the EU and the IAEA under the new president.