Iran’s hardline former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (file photo)
Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a hardline figure known for his confrontational rhetoric and role in Tehran’s nuclear defiance, was reportedly killed in an Israeli airstrike inside Iran on Saturday. According to reports from the New York Post citing the Israeli media “Ma’ariv” and other media, Ahmadinejad was under house arrest at the time and died in a targeted attack on his residence.The Israeli War Room also reported the death, citing Iranian media. “According to Iranian media reports, the former president of Iran’s Islamic terrorist regime, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has been eliminated. AhemAdinejad was subject to U.S. sanctions in 2023 for his role in the wrongful detention of Americans. “Ahmadinejad was Iran’s sixth president from 2005 to 2013. He rose quickly from his previous position as mayor of Tehran and unexpectedly defeated establishment figure Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in the 2005 runoff. He is often seen at home and abroad as a confrontational hard-liner whose economic decisions have led to higher inflation and whose provocative rhetoric has further isolated Iran on the international stage.He is notorious in the West for his comments on Israel and the Holocaust. At a 2005 conference titled “A World Without Zionism,” he quoted Iran’s founding leader, the now-deceased Ayatollah Khomeini, describing Israel as an “occupying regime in Jerusalem” and a “shameful cancerous growth” that “must be wiped off the map.” Supporters later argued that the translation of his comments was controversial, but critics insisted that the meaning was undoubtedly hostile.Ahmadinejad again came to global attention in 2007 during a visit to New York’s Columbia University, where he said “there are no gays in Iran,” a remark that sparked laughter and widespread ridicule.
