Ex-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reacts as he submits his name for registration as a candidate in Iran's presidential election, in Tehran, Iran April 12, 2017. Tasnim News Agency/Handout via REUTERS
ANKARA (Reuters) - Hardline former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad surprised Iran's clerical establishment by registering for the May 19 presidential election, defying the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader's warning not to enter the race.
Vilified in the West for his barbs against America and Israel and questioning of the Holocaust, the blacksmith's son Ahmadinejad has upset predictions before by stealing the show in 2005 when he defeated powerful former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in a run-off vote.
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