An Iranian hard-line former member of parliament has revealed that Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf was barred from running in the 2009 presidential election, whose aftermath was mired by unrest.

In an interview with Tarikh Online on Oct. 30, Hamid Rasaee spoke about Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s effective barring of ex-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from running in the upcoming May 2017 presidential election. Rasaee said, “From what I heard, Mr. Ghalibaf had been advised the same in 2009. Mr. [Ayatollah Akbar] Hashemi Rafsanjani had been advised in 2005, too. … Mr. Hashemi didn’t listen and ran [in the 2005 election], but Mr. Ghalibaf didn’t nominate himself and didn’t run [in the 2009 election].”

Rasaee added, “When Mr. Hashemi says … and Mr. [Hassan] Rouhani himself promises that they won’t allow Ahmadinejad to come [forward] again, when [Rafsanjani's daughter] Faezeh Hashemi and Mr. Sadegh Kharrazi say they will sacrifice their blood to not let Ahmadinejad return [to the political stage] — this means that if Ahmadinejad intends to come [forward and run in May], strife and fighting will begin again.”

Rasaee then hinted that if Ahmadinejad wound up not obeying the supreme leader’s advice, this would not necessarily lead to Ahmadinejad's disqualification by the Guardian Council, which is tasked with vetting candidates. “Agha [the supreme leader] himself said that when one thinks about a believer’s good, one should perhaps advise him [on how to best proceed]. The proof of this matter that [such advice] cannot cause anyone to be disqualified is that Mr. Hashemi was advised [the same as Ahmadinejad, but ran anyway].”