محمود احمدی‌نژاد

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (born 28 October 1956) was the former sixth president of Iran from 2005 to 2013. The son of a blacksmith, Ahmadinejad was born in 1956 in Garmsar, near Tehran. He holds a PhD in traffic and transport from Tehran's University of Science and Technology, where he was a lecturer. In 2003, he was appointed mayor of Tehran. During his time as mayor, he reduced social freedoms and curtailed many of the reforms introduced by more moderate figures who ran the city before him.

For his 2005 presidential campaign, Ahmadinejad reportedly spent no money. Instead, he had the support of powerful conservatives who used their network of mosques to benefit Ahmadinejad. The campaign focused on poverty, social justice and the distribution of wealth inside Iran. Ahmadinejad also repeatedly defended his country's nuclear program, which put the US and EU in a state of worry.

He made a bold speech at the UN on the nuclear issue and refused to back down on Tehran's decision to resume uranium conversion. He continues to defend what he says is his country's right to civilian nuclear energy and its missile development programme. In June 2010 when the UN Security Council voted in favour of fresh sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme, he said they should be thrown in the dustbin like a "used handkerchief". Iran blames political pressure from the US and its allies for Security Council decisions. It insists it will not break its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and will not use its technology to make a nuclear bomb.

Limited to two terms under the current Iranian constitution, Ahmadinejad supported Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei's campaign for president. On 15 June 2013, Hassan Rouhani was elected as Ahmadinejad's successor and assumed office on 3 August 2013.