Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Biography

President (non-U.S.) (1956)

NAME
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
OCCUPATION
President (non-U.S.)
BIRTH DATE
October 28, 1956 (age 59)
EDUCATION
Amirkabir University of Technology,Iran University of Science and
Technology
PLACE OF BIRTH
Aradan, Iran
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is best known as the controversial sixth president of
the Islamic Republic of Iran, serving from 2005 to 2013.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - Mini Biography (TV-14; 3:23) After the 1979
Iranian revolution, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad entered politics. He was elected
President of Iran in 2005. His pursuit of a nuclear program and anti-Israeli
rhetoric has put him at odds with the United States and much of Europe.

Synopsis
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was born in Aradan, Iran, on October 28, 1956. He
assumed the presidency of Iran in 2005 and was re-elected in 2009, though
his second election sparked widespread protests by Iranians who considered
the contest corrupt. Ahmadinejad's controversial positions on human rights,
nuclear development and Israel alienated him from both the Western and
the Islamic worlds. In June 2013, Hassan Rouhani was elected as
Ahmadinejad's presidential successor.

Early Life
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was born Mahmoud Saborjhian on October 28,
1956, in the village of Aradan, near Garmsar, in north-central Iran, 82 miles
southeast of Tehran. Mahmoud was the fourth of seven children whose
father was a blacksmith. In 1957, the family moved from Aradan to the
Narmak district of Tehran in search of better economic conditions. During
this time, his father, Ahmad, changed the family name from Saborjhian
(which translates to "thread painter," the lowliest job in Iran's traditional

carpet-weaving industry), to the more religious Ahmadinejad ("race of

Muhammad" or "virtuous race").
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad grew up in an Iran dominated by Western influence.
Three years before he was born, the U.S. CIA aided in a coup to install the
pro-Western Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi as head of state. Many Iranians,
led by the country's Islamic clerics, resented the Western incursion into
Iran's politics. Ahmadinejad held no interest in politics as a young boy. He
went to primary and high school in Tehran, and excelled in his studies. He
received high marks on the national university entrance exams, finishing
130th out of 400,000 students. He entered the Iran University of Science
and Technology in 1975 and received his undergraduate degree in civil
engineering in 1979.

Political Activism
It wasn't until he attended Iran University that Ahmadinejad became
politically active. Though the Shah's regime repressed all political activism
and descent, Ahmadinejad secretly produced and distributed an anti-Shah
propaganda magazine called Jiq va Dad (Scream and Shout). He joined the
Islamic Association of Students in the Science and Technology University, a
faction of the Office for Strengthening Unity between Universities and
Theological Seminaries. The latter organization allegedly planned the taking
of hostages from the U.S. Embassy during the 1979 revolution against the
Shah.
It is unclear whether Mahmoud Ahmadinejad participated in the takeover of
the embassy. Some of the former hostages have identified him as one of the
student leaders involved in holding 52 embassy employees for 444 days
between 1979 and 1981. Ahmadinejad denies this, as do several of his
political opponents who were involved in the embassy take over.
When Saddam Hussein ordered Iraqi military to invade Iran in 1980,
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad volunteered to fight against the Iraqis in western
Iran, the home of the Kurdish ethnic minority. Reports are mixed as to
whether he became a member of the Revolutionary Guard in 1986. Some
say he was, others say he wasn't, but it is believed he was a volunteer for a
paramilitary volunteer militia called the Basij that operated in cooperation
with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. It is also believed that he participated
in covert operations near the city of Kirkuk, and worked to not only the stop
the Iraqi incursion, but to also suppress any political efforts by the Kurds to
form their own state.

There remain many unanswered questions about Ahmadinejad's

participation in covert assassinations in the Middle East and Europe. He is
suspected of planning the killing of Iranian Kurdish leader Abdorrahman
Qassemlou in Vienna in July 1989. While American intellegence agents
found no evidence to support this allegation, the Austrian government
continued investigating the charge well into 2006. It was also reported that
Ahmadinejad planned the killing of Salman Rushdie, the controversial
Anglo-Indian novelist who outraged Muslim leader Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini with his 1989 book The Satanic Verses. However, evidence is not
conclusive on this theory either.

Government Offices
In 1986, Ahmadinejad began his master's program in engineering at Iran
University of Science and Technology and in 1989 he joined the faculty. He
married another university professor, and the couple had two sons and a
daughter together. Ahmadinejad also held a number of government posts
during this time. He was appointed governor of Maku and Khoy, cities in the
West Azerbaijan province. In 1993, he served as an advisor for the ministry
of culture and higher education.
In 1993, he was also appointed governor general of the newly established
northwest province of Ardebil and served there for four years. He was
removed in 1997 by the newly elected moderate president Mohammad
Khatami in an effort to move the Iranian government away from its more
conservative elements. Ahmadinejad received his doctorate in transportation
engineering in 1997 and returned to his teaching position at the university.
In 2003, Ahmadinejad was appointed mayor of Tehran by the city council.
He was little known outside of Iran at this time, but his charisma and
political skills became quickly evident. As mayor, Ahmadinejad began
repealing reforms put in effect by the moderates, and imposed new cultural
restrictions favored by the mullahsIran's religious leadershipincluding
the closing of Western fast-food restaurants and the covering of billboards
with Western references. He advocated gender-segregated elevators in
municipal buildings and turned many of the cultural centers into prayer
halls during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. He also ordered all male
city employees to have beards and wear long sleeves.
In 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ran for the Iranian presidency with the full
support of conservative leaders. Populist in his approach, Ahmadinejad
promised to address the poverty and social injustices in Iran, and to work to

end corruption. He campaigned on the slogan, "We can do it," and was the
only presidential candidate to speak out against improving relations with the
United States. On June 24, 2005, Ahmadinejad faced off with his campaign
rival, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran's former president from 1989 to 1997.
During this second election, Ahmadinejad played the role of a simple man
who was one of the people, and portrayed Rafsanjani as a political hack who
amassed a great fortune through corruption. Ahmadinejad won the election
by a landslide, collecting 17 million of the 27 million votes cast.
Whether a masterful politico or an honest broker, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
developed a strong bond with Tehran's deeply religious working class.
Ahmadinejad wanted to continue to live in his own house after being elected
president, until security advisers forced him to move. He took out the
expensive furniture and rugs in the presidential palace and replaced them
with less expensive furnishings. He refused the VIP seat on the presidential
plane and eventually replaced it with a cargo plane. He also spoke in bluecollar colloquialisms in his speeches and presentations. While Tehran's
political elite ridiculed him for his mannerisms, the behavior played well
with many Iranians, who saw their president as "one of them."
After his presidential win, Ahmadinejad became an imposing international
figure. His hard-line stance on Iran's right to develop nuclear power
heightened tensions with the U.S. In a September 2005 speech before the
United Nations, Ahmadinejad professed his desire to pursue Iran's nuclear
technology program, which he claimed was for peaceful purposes. At the
same time, he condemned the United States for not only proliferating
weapons of mass destruction, but also sowing a "climate of intimidation and
injustice." He issued a veiled threat that "if some try to impose their will on
the Iranian people...we will reconsider our entire approach to the nuclear
issue."
From May 2006 to March 2007, the United Nations Security Council passed
a series of resolutions requiring Iran to terminate its nuclear enrichment
programs. It imposed sanctions on nuclear material and technology entering
Iran, and also placed further restrictions on imports and exports with the
exception of development and humanitarian aid. The Iranian leader
remained defiant.
Ahmadinejad also fanned the flames of confrontation with his anti-Israeli
rhetoric in public speeches. In addition to questioning the realities of the
Holocaust, the Iranian leader showed his distaste toward Israel in October
2005, at the World Without Zionism Conference in Tehran. He spoke of an
epic battle between Islam and the "World of Ignorance," a West led by Israel

and the Zionist movement. Following the conference, he was also quoted as
saying that Israel should be "wiped off the map." Ahmadinejad stated in a
news conference on January 14, 2006, that the meaning of his statements
had been exaggerated and misinterpreted. "There is no new policy, they
created a lot of hue and misinterpreted. It is clear what we say, 'Let the
Palestinians participate in free elections and they will say what they want.'"
Domestically, Ahmadinejad was able to play to his religiously conservative
superiors while also appealing to those who elected him. During his first
term, he banned Western music while at the same time lobbying to allow
women to attend sporting events. He increased spending on social programs
to fulfill a campaign pledge, while simultaneously ordering the confiscation
of satellite dishes in mass raids.
He also encouraged the Basij to patrol the streets looking for improper dress
among men and women. With the support of conservative clerics,
Ahmadinejad instituted strict measures to control free speech and suppress
opposition with methods ranging from harassment to arrest and
imprisonment. By April 2007, Iranian police had stopped or detained more
than 150,000 individuals on violations of new edicts imposed or supported
by Ahmadinejad.
Ahmadinejad was less successful in fulfilling many of his economic
campaign promises. Despite possessing the world's 4th largest oil reserves,
Ahmadinejad was unable to stop the squandering of Iran's oil profits. Iran
had to import gasoline in 2007, as it did not possess the capabilities to
refine enough crude oil to meet domestic demand. Although sources
disagree, Iran's unemployment rate seemed to rise only slightly during
Ahmadinejad's tenure in office. However, many claim that this was
accomplished by implementing highly inflationary public programs and
subsidies. Ahmadinejad was also unable to address the crushing increase in
inflation, which was estimated to be between 20 and 30 percent.

The 2009 Presidential Election

All these issuesthe sagging economy as well as the political crackdowns
came to a head during the June 2009 presidential elections. Iran's crippling
inflation rate, high unemployment, and the question of how its oil revenue
was being spent were at the top of Iranian voters' minds. Three candidates
surfaced to challenge Ahmadinejad: Mir-Hossein Mousavi, a pro-reform
candidate, Mohsen Rezaee, a conservative, and Mehdi Karroubi, a career
politician and reformist cleric. On June 12, 2009, Iranian citizens turned

out in record numbers with 85 percent of Iran's 46 million voters casting

their ballots.
The next morning, the Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's official news
service, announced that with two-thirds of the votes counted, Ahmadinejad
had won the election. Mir-Hossein Mousavi received 33 percent of the vote
and the other two contenders received less than three percent combined.
Even though many pre-election polls predicted Ahmadinejad would be the
winner, most indicated it would be close. Very soon after the announced
results, the European Union, Britain and several Western countries
expressed concern over alleged irregularities during the voting. Many
election analysts voiced doubts about the authenticity of the results. At the
same time, many Islamic countries as well as Russia, China, India, and
Brazil congratulated Ahmadinejad on his victory.
Mir-Hossein Mousavi was the most vocal of the challengers to contest the
election results. He filed an official appeal to the Guardian Council, and
urged his supporters to fight the decision in a peaceful manner. Protests
broke out in the streets of Tehran on June 13 in favor of Mousavi, and
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced there would be an
investigation. On June 16, the Guardian Council announced a partial vote
recount. That didn't seem to pacify the protesters, who were fired up about
not only the allegations of election fraud, but four years of growing
frustration with the Ahmadinejad administration.
At first, the protests were very large and generally peaceful. But the
government remained steadfast in its insistence of Ahmadinejad's victory.
On June 15, a crowd of somewhere between 100,000 and 3 million
protestors jammed the streets of Tehran to see opposition candidate Mousavi
make his first post-election appearance. As the government increased its
crackdown on civil disobedience, Ahmadinejad tried to reassure the Iranian
media that the protesters were inconsequential, comparing the lively
demonstrations to the exuberance of a soccer game.
But as the protests moved into their second week, cell phone and digital
cameras recorded the unprecedented demonstrations and leaked them to
the world. On June 20, 2009, citizen journalism captured the on-camera
slaying of Neda Agha-Soltan, a young college graduate who went with a
friend to paricipate in one of the protests. When she stepped out of her car,
she was struck in the chest with a single bullet which pierced her heart,
killing her. The images of Neda's death traveled to hundreds and then
thousands of cell phones, and computers sent the story to millions of
viewers. Her death became a symbol of Iranian government oppression.

Protests and government reaction continued to ebb and flow with

unconfirmed reports of violence and defiance. On the inside, several clerics
and high officials began to openly question the election results and demand
a wider investigation. According to Iranian press reports, 105 of the 290
members of the Iranian Parliament attended the June 24th victory party for
Ahmadinejad, suggesting a deep divide within the political elite over the
election and its aftermath. On June 29, 2009, Iran's electoral board
completed the partial recount and declared Ahmadinejad the winner. The
protests, however, continued throughout June and into July 2009. By early
August 2009, the election results remained in dispute, with both Mousavi
and Ahmadinejad convinced they had won.
On August 3, 2009, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei formally
endorsed Ahmadinejad as president. Iranian political figures, including
former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
avoided the ceremony. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi also kept his
distance from the event.

Recent Years
Ahmadinejad's reign came to an end after eight years in office. On June 15,
2013, Hassan Rouhani was named Ahmadinejad's presidential successor,
slated to take office in early August 2013.

Ayatollah Khomeini Biography

Ayatollah Khomeini became the supreme religious leader of the Islamic
Republic of Iran in 1979, following many years of resistance to Shah Pahlavi.

Synopsis

Ayatollah Khomeini became the supreme religious leader of the Islamic

Republic of Iran in 1979, following many years of resistance to Shah Pahlavi.
Following his appointment as Ayatollah, Khomeini worked to remove the
Shah from power for his associations with the West. Upon the success of the

revolution Ayatollah Khomeini was named religious and political leader of

Iran for life.

Early Life
Born on September 24, 1902, Ruhollah Mousavi whose given name means
"inspired of God" was born into a family of Shi'ite religious scholars in the
small Iranian village of Khomein. He would later take his hometown as his
surname and become known by his more famous moniker, Ruhollah
Khomeini. In 1903, just five months after Khomeini's birth, his father, Seyed
Moustafa Hindi, was murdered.
Khomeini was raised by his mother and an aunt, Sahebeh, both of whom
died of cholera in 1918. The responsibility for the family then fell to
Khomeini's older brother, Seyed Mourteza. The family claimed to be
descendents of the Prophet Muhammad. Both brothers were avid religious
scholars like their forefathers, and both attained the status of Ayatollah,
which is given only to Shi'ite scholars of the highest knowledge.
As a young boy, Khomeini was lively, strong, and good at sports. He was
even considered the leapfrog champion of his village and the surrounding
area. Far from being dedicated only to games, though, Khomeini was also an
intellectual. He was known for his great ability at memorizing both religious
and classical poetry, and also excelled at his studies at the local maktab, a
school dedicated to teaching the Qu'ran.
Because of his scholarly success, Khomeini's older brother decided to send
him to the city of Arak (or Sultanabad) in 1920. There, Khomeini studied
with the renowned Islamic scholar Yazdi Ha'iri. Ha'iri left Arak for the city of
Qom in 1923, and Khomeini followed. There, he committed all of his efforts
to furthering his own religious studies while also becoming a teacher for
younger students at Ha'iri's school.

Political and Religious Leader

When Ha'iri died in the 1930s, the Ayatollah Boroujerdi succeeded him as
the most important Islamic figure in Qom. As a result, Boroujerdi gained
Khomeini as a follower. It is interesting to note that both Ha'iri and
Boroujerdi believed that religion should not involve itself with government
affairs. So, while the leader of Iran, Reza Shah, weakened the powers of
religious leaders and promoted a more secularized country, the most

powerful religious figures in Iran remained silent and encouraged their

followers to do the same.
Moreover, the same deference was encouraged when Reza Shah's son,
Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, turned to the U.S. for help quelling protests for
democratic reforms in Iran's capital, Tehran, in the 1950s. One of those who
were muted by the beliefs of the senior religious leaders was Khomeini.
Unable to speak out against what he saw as a country leaving its Islamic
roots and values behind, Khomeini turned his efforts toward teaching. He
began to cultivate a group of dedicated pupils who became his staunchest
supporters during his days as an Islamic revolutionary. On March 31, 1961,
Ayatollah Boroujerdi died and Khomeini was in a position to take up the
mantle left by the late religious leader. After publishing his writings on
Islamic science and doctrines, many Shi'ite Iranians began to see Khomeini
as Marja-e Taqlid (a person to be imitated).
In 1962, Khomeini began protesting the intentions of the Shah in earnest.
His first act of defiance was to organize the ulama (religious leaders) against
a proposed law of the Shah's that would effectively end the requirement for
elected officials to be sworn in on the Qu'ran. This action was just the
beginning in a long string of events that would change Iranian politics
forever.
In June 1963, Khomeini made a speech suggesting that if the Shah did not
change the political direction of Iran, the populace would be happy to see
him leave the country. As a result, Khomeini was arrested and held in
prison. During his incarceration, people took to the streets with cries for his
release, and were met by the government with military force. Even so, it was
nearly a week before the unrest was resolved. Khomeini was held in prison
until April 1964, when he was allowed to return to Qom.
The Shah continued to cultivate close ties with the United States, and to be
what Khomeini considered "soft" on Israel. This prompted Khomeini to
pronounce his belief that Jews would take over Iran and that the U.S.
considered all Iranians to be little more than slaves to America's Western
ideals. After delivering another inflammatory speech in the fall of 1964,
Khomeini was arrested and deported to Turkey. Prevented by Turkish law
from wearing the traditional clothes of a Shi'ite cleric and scholar, Khomeini
took up residence in Najaf, Iraq in September 1965. He remained there for
13 years.

Years in Exile
During his years in exile, Khomeini developed a theory of what a state
founded on Islamic principles and led by the clergy would look like, called
Velayat-e faqeeh. He taught his theory at a local Islamic school, mostly to
other Iranians. He also began making videotapes of his sermons, which were
smuggled into and sold in Iranian bazaars. Through these methods,
Khomeini became the accepted leader of the Iranian opposition to the
government of the Shah. The opposition was, indeed, picking up steam.
In 1975, crowds gathered for three days at a religious school in Qom and
could only be moved by military force. In response, Khomeini released a
jubilant statement in support of the protestors. He declared that "freedom
and liberation from the bonds of imperialism" was imminent.
More protests occurred in 1978 in Khomeini's defense, and were again put
down violently by Iranian government forces. In the wake of these protests,
the Shah felt that Khomeini's exile in Iraq was too nearby for comfort. Soon
thereafter, Khomeini was confronted by Iraqi soldiers and given a choice:
either stay in Iraq and abandon all political activity, or leave the country. He
chose the latter. Khomeini moved to Paris, which was to be his last place of
residence before his triumphant return to Iran.
During his stay there, he defended himself against critics who accused him
of being power-hungry with statements such as, "It is the Iranian people
who have to select their own capable and trustworthy individuals and give
them the responsibilities. However, personally, I can't accept any special role
or responsibility."

The Iranian Revolution

The year of his return was 1979, mere months after his move to Paris.
Students, the middle-class, self-employed businessmen, and the military all
took to the street in protest. The Shah turned to the U.S. for help, but
ultimately had to leave the country himself in the face of the revolution at
his doorstep. Despite statements such as the one he made in Paris,
Khomeini was widely acknowledged as the new leader of Iran, and came to
be known as the Supreme Leader. He returned home to cheering crowds,
and began laying the groundwork for the Islamic state he had for so long
been imagining.

During this period, he put other clerics to work on writing an Islamic

constitution for Iran. He also began iterating more authoritarian sentiments
than before: "Don't listen to those who speak of democracy. They all are
against Islam. They want to take the nation away from its mission. We will
break all the poison pens of those who speak of nationalism, democracy,
and such things."

Iranian Hostage Crisis

Meanwhile, the Shah needed a place to serve out his exile. It became known
that the Shah was ill with cancer. With this in mind, the U.S. reluctantly
allowed the Shah to enter the country. In protest, a group of Iranians seized
more than sixty American hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on
November 4, 1979. Khomeini saw this as a chance to demonstrate the new
Iranian defiance of Western influence.
The new Iranian government and the Carter Administration of the U.S.
entered a standoff in that wouldn't end until after Ronald Reagan's
inauguration in late January of 1981, under the pressure of sanctions and
oil embargoes imposed by the U.S. on Iran. This is now known as the
Iranian Hostage Crisis.
Once in power, the Ayatollah Khomeini was no more sympathetic to the cries
of the secular left than the Shah had been to Khomeini's cries for reform.
Many who protested against his regime were killed, and Khomeini had his
doctrines and beliefs taught in public schools. He also ensured that clerics
sympathetic to his beliefs filled the government ranks, from the smallest
town all the way to his own office.
Moreover, Khomeini believed that the ideas on which the new Iran had been
built needed to be, in his words, "exported." Iraq and Iran had long been in
territorial dispute over border areas and claims on petroleum reserves.
Sensing an opportunity, on September 22, 1980, Iraqs leader, Saddam
Hussein launched an attack by land and air against Iran. Hussein hoped to
catch Iran, weakened by revolution. Though Iraq made some early gains, but
June, 1982, the war wore down to a stalemate that lasted another six years.
Finally, after hundreds of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of
dollars were lost, the UN brokered a cease-fire in August, 1988, which both
sides accepted. Khomeini called this compromise "more deadly than taking
poison."

The Rushdie Fatwa and Final Years

Khomeini is also well known for releasing a fatwa (a legal document issued
by a Muslim cleric) calling for the death of Indian-British author Salman
Rushdie for his book The Satanic Verses in 1989. The book is a work of
fiction that can be interpreted as depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a
false prophet, and casts considerable doubt on many Islamic beliefs.
Shortly after the Rushdie fatwa was declared, the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah
Khomeini died, on June 3, 1989. Iran remains a religion-based society, and
Khomeini's life's work and decade of rule will no doubt continue to influence
the country far into the future.