[custom_adv] Ahmedinejad left his office at Pasteur st. on 3 August 2013 and returned to his private house in Narmak. In an interview with CNN, Ahmadinejad said that, after the end of his presidency, he would return to the university and retire from politics. [custom_adv] However, Ahmadinejad announced from Russia on the sidelines of an OPEC summit on 2 July 2013 that he might stay involved with politics by creating a new party or non-governmental organization. [custom_adv] In late July, Mehr news agency reported that Ahmadinejad obtained permission from the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council to launch a university for post-graduate studies in capital. On 5 August 2013, the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei issued a decree appointing Ahmedinejad as a member of the Expediency Council. [custom_adv] On 15 June 2015, a number of Ahmadinejad's cabinet ministers established a new political party, called YEKTA Front. The party published list for 2016 legislative election and some of Ahmadinejad's cabinet members (like Hamid-Reza Haji Babaee, Sadeq Khalilian, Mohammad Abbasi and Mahmoud Bahmani) registered for the election, but Ahmadinejad did not support any list in the election. [custom_adv] It was rumored that Ahmadinejad would run for presidency again in 2017 after he did not deny plans when questioned by the media in 2015. [custom_adv] Ahmadinejad remained mostly out of the public eye since leaving office, but his anti-Western rhetoric and combative style remained popular among many persian Principlists, and he was widely viewed as among the most formidable political figures capable of unseating Hassan Rouhani. [custom_adv] In December 2015, it was reported that he had begun his presidential campaign by appointing his campaign's chiefs.He also began provincial travels in April 2016 by traveling to Amol. Travels were continued until September 2016, when he traveled to Gorgan. [custom_adv] Ahmadinejad's advisors said his travels were not electoral and he only delivered speeches due to public demand.In September 2016, it was rumored that Ahmadinejad had asked Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of homeland, for permission to run for the office and was rejected by Khamenei, who said that it was not in the best interests of homeland. [custom_adv] On 26 September 2016, Ayatollah Khamenei confirmed the news, stated that it was only advice, not an order. It was the first time since Khamenei's election as Supreme Leader in 1989 that he advised a person to not run for election. [custom_adv] Formerly, some candidates had asked him for advice (former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani for his campaign in 2005 and 2013), but Khamenei chose to not give his opinion on those occasions.
