Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the president of Iran. Ahmadinejad originally took office in 2005 and was re-elected on June 12, 2009. Opposition leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi claimed that he actually won and accused the election of being rigged.http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1904645_1904644,00.html?iid=tsmodule

Despite warnings by the Interior Ministry that anyone who gathered on June 15, 2009 in Tehran's Freedom Square to protest President Ahmadienejad's re-election would be beaten or worse, millions of Iranian protesters chanted "Death to the dictator!" and "We want our vote back!" in Freedom Square.http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-election16-2009jun16,0,2315785.story On June 29, 2009, the Guardian Council, Iran's top electoral body confirmed Ahmadinejad as the winner of the election.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8125619.stm

On August 4, 2010, President Ahmadinejad and his motorcade were traveling through Hamedan, Iran when a homemade explosive device was thrown near the procession. Initial reports led some to speculate that the incident was an assassination attempt on Ahmadinejad's life. Shortly after the rumors spread, the Iranian government issued a statement saying that the president's office "rejected as false the reports of a grenade attack". The day before the incident, Ahmadinejad gave a speech in which he claimed that "the stupid Zionists are trying to kill me".http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-ahmadinejad-20100804,0,789985.story

Despite the interruption, Ahmadinejad went ahead with his live broadcast speech that night. A journalist for the Washington Post who was nearby said that the event was minor. "It did not even warrant Ahmadinejad's security team to act", the reporter said.http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/04/iran-bomb-attack-ahmadinejad

During presidential reelection campaign, Ahmadinejad had borrowed a page from President Obama's Yes We Can election campaign playbook. In a promotional video issued by Ahmadinejad's campaign and reportedly marketed toward college students, the Iran President was depicted pointing to the phrase "We Can" written on a blackboard.http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0409/Yes_We_Can_Farsi_edition.html?showal

Since entering office in 2005, Ahmadinejad has worked to improve relations with Russia, Venezuela, and Syria and has introduced several economic reforms including a gas rationing program and large-scale interest rate cuts.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/5354812.stm http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/29/world/middleeast/29iran.html

Ahmadinejad has also encouraged an economic policy that works as a compromise between western capitalism and the socialist ideals of the 1978 Iranian Revolution. Ahmadinejad attended and spoke at the 63rd United Nations General Assembly in September 2008.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122204266977561331.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has attracted considerable criticism both from within Iran and from abroad. His controversial statements that the Holocaust may not have happened and that homosexuality does not exist in Iran have attracted the most international attention. His vocal support for Iran's nuclear program has also drawn considerable criticism from abroad, most notably from the United States. Criticism of his administration also includes allegations of corruption and cronyism and his interference with state universities by forcing opposing professors into resignation.http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/202820.php/ref> <ref>http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=4647&l=1 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122204266977561331.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Ahmadinejad was the ranking official at an anti-racism conference in Geneva on April 19, 2009, and gave the opening speech, in which he said the Jewish nationalist movement of Zionism "personifies racism" and was created "on the pretext of Jewish suffering" from WWII. Dozens of delegates collected their papers and walked out of the conference.http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/20/un-conference-boycott-ahmadinejad http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/04/20/diplomats-walk-out-en-masse-from-iran-presidents-speech/