Iran’s former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reported to have been killed during Saturday, February 28th’s U.S. military strikes.
Ahmadinejad served as the sixth president of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 2005 to 2013. During his two terms in office, he was seen as a hardliner, calling for Israel’s destruction and denying the Holocaust. The extent of his dedication to the official ideology could be seen in his previous role as Mayor of Tehran (2003–2005), where he publicised the sex segregation of elevators in municipality offices.
Despite Ahmadinejad’s commitment to the Iranian regime, his proposed run for a third term in the 2017 presidential election—which would have defied both the constitution and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei—was prevented by the authorities. He was also disqualified from running for president in 2024.
Viewed as a current critic of the regime in Tehran, Ahmadinejad enjoyed a mixed reputation among Iranians, many of whom had protested against declining living standards under his administration. State news agency Ilna reported that a house in Narmak was destroyed in a U.S.-Israeli missile strike, killing his three IRGC bodyguards and, as was later confirmed, Ahmadinejad himself.
