Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Difference between revisions

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	In ] Ahmadinejad gave a speech opposing ] that contained antagonistic statements about the ]. He agreed with a statement he attributed to ] that Israel must be "wiped off the map" and referred to Israel as a "disgraceful stain the ]". His comments were condemned by major ], the ], ], the ] and ] ] ].{{ref\|17}} ], ] and ] leaders also expressed displeasure over Ahmadinejad's remark.{{ref\|18}}		In ] Ahmadinejad gave a speech opposing ] that contained antagonistic statements about the ]. He agreed with a statement he attributed to ] that Israel must be "wiped off the map" and referred to Israel as a "disgraceful stain the ]". His comments were condemned by major ], the ], ], the ] and ] ] ].{{ref\|17}} ], ] and ] leaders also expressed displeasure over Ahmadinejad's remark.{{ref\|18}}

	In ] Ahmadinejad made several controversial statements regarding ] and the State of Israel, at one point referring to the Holocaust as a "myth" and criticizing European laws against ]. He said that although he does not know whether or not nor to what extent the Holocaust occurred, if it had in fact occurred, European countries should make amends to the Jewish people by giving them land to establish a state in Europe (Germany or ~~Austria~~), the United States, Canada or Alaska" instead of making "the innocent nation of Palestine pay for this crime." These statements were also condemned by many world leaders.		In ] Ahmadinejad made several controversial statements regarding ] and the State of Israel, at one point referring to the Holocaust as a "myth" and criticizing European laws against ]. He said that although he does not know whether or not nor to what extent the Holocaust occurred, if it had in fact occurred, European countries should make amends to the Jewish people by giving them land to establish a state in Europe (Germany, Austria or other countries), the United States, Canada or Alaska" instead of making "the innocent nation of Palestine pay for this crime." These statements were also condemned by many world leaders.

	Ahmadinejad's supporters claim that various remarks have been mistranslated, misinterpreted and exaggerated in the interest of harming the nation of Iran.{{ref\|19}} At a news conference on January 14, 2006, Ahmadinejad claimed his speech had been misinterpreted, stating "There is no new policy, they created a lot of hue and cry over that. It is clear what we say: Let the Palestinians participate in free elections and they will say what they want." {{ref\|20}}		Ahmadinejad's supporters claim that various remarks have been mistranslated, misinterpreted and exaggerated in the interest of harming the nation of Iran.{{ref\|19}} At a news conference on January 14, 2006, Ahmadinejad claimed his speech had been misinterpreted, stating "There is no new policy, they created a lot of hue and cry over that. It is clear what we say: Let the Palestinians participate in free elections and they will say what they want." {{ref\|20}}

Revision as of 01:23, 13 February 2006

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad محمود احمدی نژاد

6th President of Iran
Incumbent
Assumed office August 3, 2005
Vice President	Parviz Dawoodi
Preceded by	Mohammad Khatami

Personal details
Born	October 28, 1956 Aradan, Iran
Nationality	iranian
Political party	Islamic Society of Engineers

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, also written Ahmadinezhad, (Persian: محمود احمدی‌نژاد ; born October 28, 1956), is the sixth president of the Islamic Republic of Iran. His term began August 3, 2005.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was born in Garmsar, the fourth of seven children born to an ironworker. Ahmadinejad and his family migrated to Tehran when he was one year old. In 1975, he ranked 130th in the nationwide university entrance exams. He then got his diploma and was admitted to the Iran University of Science and Technology in the field of civil engineering. He was accepted as an MS student at the same university in 1984 and got his doctorate in 1987 in the field of engineering and traffic transportation planning while he was the governor of Ardabil province.

Ahmadinejad was appointed mayor of Tehran from May 3, 2003 until June 28, 2005 when he was elected president. He is widely considered to be a religious conservative with Islamist and populist views. Ahmadinejad was a civil engineer and an assistant professor at the Iran University of Science and Technology before his mayorship.

Politically, Ahmadinejad is a member of the Central Council of the Islamic Society of Engineers, but he has a more powerful base inside the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran (Abadgaran). Ahmadinejad is considered one of the main figures in the alliance.

Personal life and service

Born in the village of Arādān near Garmsar, the son of a blacksmith, his family moved to Tehran when he was one year old. He entered Iran University of Science and Technology (IUST) as an undergraduate student of civil engineering in 1976. He continued his studies in the same university, entering the Master of Science program for civil engineering in 1986, the same time he joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (see below), and finally received his Ph.D in traffic and transportation engineering and planning. The graduate program was a special program for the Revolutionary Guards members funded by the organization itself. After graduation, Ahmadinejad became a professor at the civil engineering department at IUST.

In 1979, Ahmadinejad was the head representative of IUST to the unofficial student gatherings that occasionally met with the Ayatollah Khomeini. In these sessions were created the foundations of the first Office for Strengthening Unity (daftar-e tahkim-e vahdat), the student organization to which several members behind seizure of the United States embassy belonged (this would become the Iran hostage crisis). Ahmadinejad became a member of the Office of Strengthening Unity. Before the seizure of the embassy, Ahmadinejad had suggested a simultaneous or similar attempt against the Soviet Union embassy, but was voted down, resulting in independent pursuit of the idea by its proponents.

During the Iran-Iraq War, Ahmadinejad joined the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps in 1986. After training at the headquarters, he saw action in extraterritorial covert operations against Kirkuk, Iraq. Later he also became the head engineer of the sixth army of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and the head of the Corps' staff in the western provinces of Iran. After the war, he served as vice governor and governor of Maku and Khoy, an Advisor to the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, and the governor of the then newly established Ardabil province from 1993 to October 1997.

Early political career

File:Chavez-in-tehran3.jpg

Ahmadinejad gave a warm welcome to Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez in his visit to Tehran in 2004. In the visit, Chávez was welcomed with a new statue of Simon Bolivar, Venezuela's national hero, in the Goft-o-gou park in Tehran.

Ahmadinejad was mostly an unknown figure in Iranian politics until he was elected Mayor of Tehran by the second City Council of Tehran on May 3, 2003, after a 12% turnout led to the election of the conservative candidates of Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran in Tehran. During his mayorship, he reversed many of the changes put into effect by previous moderate and reformist mayors, putting serious religious emphasis on the activities of the cultural centers founded by previous mayors, going on the record with the separation of elevators for men and women in the municipality offices and suggesting that the bodies of those killed in the Iran-Iraq war be buried in major city squares of Tehran. Such actions were coupled with popular acts, such as distributing free soup to the poor.

As the Mayor of Tehran, Ahmadinejad also became the manager in charge of the daily newspaper Hamshahri, replacing editor Mohammad Atrianfar with Alireza Sheikh-Attar. Ahmadinejad subsequently fired Sheikh-Attar on June 13, 2005, a few days before the presidential elections, for not supporting him for the post, replacing Sheikh-Attar with Ali Asghar Ash'ari, a previous Vice Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance during the ministership of Mostafa Mirsalim. He fired Nafiseh Kouhnavard, one of Hamshahri's journalists, for asking Khatami about the "red lines" of the regime and illegal parallel intelligence agencies, a question Ahmadinejad didn't consider appropriate. Kouhnavard was later accused by hard-liners of spying for Turkey and the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Ahmadinejad is known to have quarreled with Khatami, who then barred him from attending meetings of the Board of Ministers, a privilege usually extended to mayors of Tehran. He has publicly criticized Khatami for ignorance of the daily problems of the general public.

After two years as Tehran mayor, Ahmadinejad was shortlisted in a list of sixty-five finalists for World Mayor 2005. Out of the 550 nominated mayors, only nine were from Asia.

Ahmadinejad resigned from his post as the mayor of Tehran after his election to the presidency. His resignation was accepted on June 28 2005, and in September 2005 the Tehran City Council elected Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf with 8 out of 15 votes as the 12th Mayor of Tehran.

Presidency

Electoral platform

File:Mahmoud Ahmadinejad front view.jpg.jpg

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Ahmadinejad has generally sent mixed signals about his plans for his presidency, which some US-based analysts consider to have been designed to attract both religious conservatives and the lower economic classes. His campaign motto was "It's possible and we can do it" (می‌شود و می‌توانیم).

In his presidential campaign, Ahmadinejad took a populist approach, with emphasis on his own modest life, and had compared himself with Mohammad Ali Rajai, the second president of Iran—a claim that raised objections from Rajai's family. Ahmadinejad claims he plans to create an "exemplary government for the people of the world" in Iran. He is a self-described "principlist"; that is, acting politically based on Islamic and revolutionary principles. One of his goals is "putting the petroleum income on people's tables," referring to Iran's oil profits being distributed among the poor.

Ahmadinejad was the only presidential candidate who spoke out against future relations with the United States. Also, in an interview with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting a few days before the elections, Ahmadinejad accused the United Nations of being "one-sided, stacked against the world of Islam." He has openly opposed the veto power given to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council. In the same interview, he stated, "It is not just for a few states to sit and veto global approvals. Should such a privilege continue to exist, the Muslim world with a population of nearly 1.5 billion should be extended the same privilege." In addition, he has defended Iran's nuclear program and has accused "a few arrogant powers" of attempting to limit Iran's industrial and technological development in this and other fields. In a question by a Shargh journalist about the release of political prisoners in case he becomes president, Ahmadinejad answered with a question: "Which political prisoners? The political prisoners in the United States?"

After his election he proclaimed, "Thanks to the blood of the martyrs, a new Islamic revolution has arisen and the Islamic revolution of 1384 will, if God wills, cut off the roots of injustice in the world." He said, "The wave of the Islamic revolution will soon reach the entire world."

During his campaign for the second round, he said, "We didn't participate in the revolution for turn-by-turn government This revolution tries to reach a world-wide government." Also he has mentioned that he has an extended program on fighting terrorism in order to improve foreign relations and has called for greater ties with Iran's neighbours and ending visa requirements between states in the region, saying that "People should visit anywhere they wish freely. People should have freedom in their pilgrimages and tours."

As confirmed by Ahmadinejad, Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, a senior cleric from Qom, is President Ahmadinejad's ideological mentor and spiritual guide. Ayatollah Mesbah is the founder of Haghani School of thought in Iran. He and his team strongly supported President Ahmadinejad's campaign during presidential election in 2005.

File:Ahmadinejad01.jpg

Ahmadinejad demonstrating his loyalty to Ayatollah Khamenei

File:Khatami-and-Ahmadinejad.jpg

Khatami and Ahmadinejad, hand in hand, during the handing of the presidency offices.

File:Ahmadinejad-and-Nasrallah.jpg

Ahmadinejad meeting Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, on August 1, 2005

Ahmadinejad became the President of Iran on August 3, 2005, receiving the approval of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. During the inauguration ceremony he kissed the hand of Khamenei in demonstration of his loyalty to him. The act caused a stir in the national media as he is the first Iranian president to kiss Khamenei's hand and the second Iranian president to kiss a supreme leader's hand (the first was Mohammad Ali Rajai, who kissed Ayatollah Khomeini's hand). Ahmadinejad was widely perceived at the time of his election to be Khamenei's protégé.

In the first announcement after his presidency, Ahmadinejad asked the public servants not to post his photographs and pictures in governmental offices and use the pictures and photos of Ayatollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Khamenei only.

Ahmadinejad completed the requisite ceremonies of becoming president on August 6, when he took a vow before the Majlis to protect Iran's national institutions: Shi'a Islam, the Islamic Republic, and the Constitution. From August 3 to August 6, Mohammad Reza Aref, Khatami's First Vice President, was Acting President.

Ahmadinejad's ministers

Ahmadinejad was required to introduce his suggested ministers to Majlis for a vote of approval in fifteen days, after which Majlis would have one week to decide about the ministers. It was mentioned by Masoud Zaribafan, Ahmadinejad's campaign manager, that Ahmadinejad would probably introduce his cabinet on the same day of his vow, which did not happen, but the list was finally sent to the Majlis on August 14. The Majlis were set to vote on the suggested ministers by August 21.

The parliament had held a private meeting on August 5, when Ahmadinejad presented a shortlist of three or four candidates for each ministry, to know the opinion of Majlis about his candidates. A news website close to Ahmadinejad published a partial list of Ahmadinejad's decisions based on the feedback, which was updated and changed a few times. The final list was officially sent to the Majlis on August 14, 2005.

After a few days of heavy discussions in Majlis, which started on August 21, 2005, Ahmadinejad's cabinet was voted for on August 24, 2005, and became the first cabinet since the Iranian revolution in not winning a complete vote of approval. Four candidates, for the ministries of Cooperatives, Education, Petroleum, and Welfare and Social Security, all previous colleagues of Ahmadinejad in the Municipality of Tehran, were voted down. The other candidates became ministers.

The list of suggested ministers and their votes went:

Ministry	Candidate minister	Approvals	Denials	Abstentions
Agricultural	Mohammad Reza Eskandari (Persian bio)	214	45	24
Commerce	Masoud Mirkazemi	169	85	25
Communication and Information Technology	Mohammad Soleimani	220	43	16
Cooperatives	Alireza Ali-Ahmadi	105	134	34
Culture and Islamic Guidance	Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi	181	78	20
Defense and Logistics	Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar	205	55	17
Economy and Financial Affairs	Davoud Danesh-Jafari (Persian bio)	216	47	19
Education	Ali Akbar Ash'ari (Persian bio)	73	175	31
Energy	Parviz Fattah (Persian bio)	194	56	23
Foreign Affairs	Manouchehr Mottaki (Persian bio)	220	47	16
Health and Medical Education	Kamran Bagheri Lankarani (Persian bio)	169	86	27
Housing and Urban Development	Mohammad Saeedikia	222	31	25
Industries and Mines	Alireza Tahmasbi	182	58	30
Intelligence	Gholamhossein Mohseni Ezhei (Persian bio)	217	51	13
Interior	Mostafa Pourmohammadi (Persian bio)	153	90	31
Justice	Jamal Karimi-Rad (Persian bio)	191	59	24
Labour and Social Affairs	Mohammad Jahromi	197	59	20
Petroleum	Ali Saeedlou	101	133	38
Petroleum	Mohsen Tasalloti	77	139	38
Petroleum	Kazem Vaziri Hamane	172	53	34
Roads and Transportation	Mohammad Rahmati (Persian bio)	214	43	21
Science, Research, and Technology	Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi (Persian bio)	144	101	35
Welfare and Social Security	Mehdi Hashemi	131	108	36

The new board of ministers held its first meeting on August 25 in Mashhad, promising to keep frequent meetings to cities other than the capital, Tehran. Temporary supervisors for two of the four ministries without new ministers were appointed by Ahmadinejad on August 27, Mohammad Nazemi Ardakani for the Ministry of Cooperatives and Davoud Madadi for the Ministry of Welfare and Social Security.

Domestic policy

Economic policy

President Ahmadinejad submitted his first annual budget to Iran’s parliament on 15th January 2006. This year’s budget (starting March 21) law is based on oil price of 40 dollars per barrel. The budget is approximately 195,000 billion toomans. About 70% of the budget is devoted to government controlled areas. The budget was planned to oppose economic monopolies. The budget is the largest one in Iran's history with a 50% increase, a radical change that his opponents describe as “disastrous”. Some Iranian MPs believe that even this humongous amount of money will not suffice Ahmadinejad’s election promises to Iranians.

2006-2007 budget proposal is to be an operational budget where funds would be devoted based on the outcome of an operation rather than dividing the budget among organizations.

In 2006-2007 budget proposal, 0.6 percent of GDP has been devoted to scientific research which is almost half of what is demanded by Iran's 4th Five-Year Social and Economic Development Plan (1.25% of GDP).

Despite the government's hostility toward NGOs, President Ahmadinejad devoted huge funds (more than 10 times increase, app. 35 billion Rials) to a NGO associated with Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi.

Reza Love Fund

Ahmadinejad's first piece of legislation to emerge from his newly formed government was a 12 trillion rial (1.3 billion USD) fund called "Reza Love Fund" which was named after one of Shi'a Islam's Imams, Ali al-Rida. By tapping into Iran's huge oil revenues, Ahmadinejad's government claims that this fund will be used to help young people to get employed and to afford marriage, as well to assist in purchasing their own homes. The fund also sought charitable donations, and includes a boards of trustees in each of Iran's 30 provinces. The new plan is subject to the approval of the conservative-held Majles, but is seen as unlikely to encounter strong opposition given deputies in the Majles have also shown an eagerness to focus on resolving economic problems. This piece of legislation was in response to the costly housing in urban centres which is pushing up the national average marital age, which currently is around 25 for women and 28 for men. This was the first example of Ahmadinejad's attempting to fulfill his promise of "bringing oil money to the Iranian people's plates."

Support for Iran's nuclear program

Ahmadinejad has been a vocal supporter of Iran's nuclear program. On 11 January 2006, President Ahmadinejad announced that Iran will have peaceful nuclear technology very soon. He also emphasized that making the nuclear bomb is not the policy of his government. In his words : "We would like to send the message to those who claim Iran is searching for nuclear weapons that there is no such policy and this is illegal and against our religion."

He also added at an a recent conference in Tehran: " A nation which has culture, logic and civilisation does not need nuclear weapons. The countries which seek nuclear weapons are those which want to solve all problems by the use of force. Our nation does not need such weapons".

President Ahmadinejad has also invited "all countries" to participate in Iran's nuclear project.

Iranian nuclear policy is not set by the President but by Iran's Supreme National Security Council which reports directly to the Supreme Leader. The council includes representatives appointed by the supreme leader, top officials from the military and members of the executive, judicial and legistlative branches of Iran's government.

Controversies

Main article: Controversies surrounding Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Since his election as the president of Iran, Ahmadinejad has been a controversial figure. He has been subject to various allegations such as election fraud, alleged involvement in the Iran Hostage Crisis, assassinations of Kurdish politicians in Austria, and Holocaust denial.

Foreign policy positions

Antagonism toward Israel

Main article: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Israel

In October 2005 Ahmadinejad gave a speech opposing Zionism that contained antagonistic statements about the State of Israel. He agreed with a statement he attributed to Ayatollah Khomeini that Israel must be "wiped off the map" and referred to Israel as a "disgraceful stain the Islamic world". His comments were condemned by major Western governments, the European Union, Russia, the United Nations Security Council and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Egyptian, Turkish and Palestinian leaders also expressed displeasure over Ahmadinejad's remark.

In December 2005 Ahmadinejad made several controversial statements regarding the Holocaust and the State of Israel, at one point referring to the Holocaust as a "myth" and criticizing European laws against Holocaust denial. He said that although he does not know whether or not nor to what extent the Holocaust occurred, if it had in fact occurred, European countries should make amends to the Jewish people by giving them land to establish a state in Europe (Germany, Austria or other countries), the United States, Canada or Alaska" instead of making "the innocent nation of Palestine pay for this crime." These statements were also condemned by many world leaders.

Ahmadinejad's supporters claim that various remarks have been mistranslated, misinterpreted and exaggerated in the interest of harming the nation of Iran. At a news conference on January 14, 2006, Ahmadinejad claimed his speech had been misinterpreted, stating "There is no new policy, they created a lot of hue and cry over that. It is clear what we say: Let the Palestinians participate in free elections and they will say what they want."

Improving relations with Russia

Ahmadinejad has taken moves to help strengthen relations with Russia, setting up a headquarters expressly dedicated to the purpose in October 2005. He has worked with Vladimir Putin on the Iran nuclear issue and both Putin and Ahmadinejad have expressed a desire for more mutual cooperation on issues involving the Caspian Sea. However, there have been recent accusations made by Western intelligence officials that Ahmadinejad has sanctioned the training and funding of Chechen rebels, who are fighting against the local government and Russia, inside Iran.