The former president of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remains a member of the powerful Expediency Discernment Council as of June 13, 2024, contrary to reports that falsely portrayed him as living a quiet life as a shepherd after leaving office. The messages misrepresented a photo that previously appeared in a newspaper report of Ahmadinejad walking on his 60th birthday.
“A beloved legendary man! The former two-term president of Iran is currently volunteering as a shepherd,” read a Bengali-language Facebook post that shared the photo on May 24, 2024.
“He served two terms as president of one of the richest and most powerful countries in the world. He currently volunteers as a shepherd. He has even donated the pension money he received as a former president.”
The Facebook post was shared more than 800 times and prompted a flood of comments praising Ahmadinejad for his alleged lifestyle change.
The photo circulated in similar Facebook posts here and here following the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19, 2024.
Former hardline President Ahmadinejad, who served from 2005 to 2013, was excluded from the presidential race to replace him.
Birthday walk
A reverse image search on Google found a wider crop of the photo in a 2016 article that said Ahmadinejad was walking on his 60th birthday.
According to the report of Iranian newspaper Qudsonline, on October 28, 2016, the former leader visited Kandlos village in Iran’s Mazandaran province and toured the heights with Dr. Abdolreza Sheikhul-Islami, one of his former ministers (archived link).
A journalist from the Persian-language news channel Iran International Pooja Jahandar also posted the photo on social media site X on October 29, 2016 (archived link).
He also said Ahmadinejad was walking in Kandlos.
Although Ahmadinejad is known for his modest lifestyle, he did not withdraw from public life after leaving office.
He is listed as a member of Iran’s Expediency Discernment Council, a powerful body appointed by the country’s supreme leader that oversees all branches of government (archived link).
Ahmadinejad is also a professor at the School of Civil Engineering of Iran University of Science and Technology.
