Ahmadinejad Ill, Will Run Again?

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who turns 53 Monday, may not run for re-election when his term in office ends next year, according to a report published by the Associated Press (AP).

The Iranian president was apparently so ill last week that he cancelled a speech last Wednesday and was a no-show at a Cabinet meeting the same day. 

A close associate, Iranian Parliament member Mohammad Ismail Kowsari, was quoted by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) Saturday as saying that Ahmadinejad was suffering from exhaustion. "The president will eventually get well and continue his job," said Kowsari. "Every human being can face exhaustion under such a workload."

Critics have noted that Iran faces an unemployment rate of more than 10 percent, and although it enjoyed record oil prices earlier in the year, it also struggled with 30 percent inflation as well. Ahmadinejad has yet to fulfill his campaign promises of four years ago, including the vow to extend those oil revenues to the less fortunate living in poorer provinces around the country. He now is faced with the collapse in the price of crude oil.

Ahmadinejad's stubborn refusal to accept the United Nations Security Council's\ demand to suspend the Islamic Republic's uranium enrichment program continues to earn the Islamic Republic bad marks with Western diplomats. It has also has cost the country its healthy economy, due to three rounds of sanctions imposed by the international body in response to Ahmadinejad's continued intransigence.

Several of the Iranian president's supporters have been discussing alternative candidates for the June 2009 elections in the past several weeks, according to AP. 

Kowsari slammed the report, saying, "Those who use such a natural issue [Ahmadinejad's illness] for psychological warfare will fail." However, no information has been forthcoming about the specific nature of his illness. Ahmadinejad had to be helped to the stage by several people at an event on Saturday.

[Blood] "pressure dropping, going to the ICU (intensive care unit) and receiving intravenous (treatment) has happened to him before and does happen," Iranian Culture Minister Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi told FARS News Agency on Sunday. He attributed the cause to "overwork" and dismissed the matter, saying "He is in good shape and better than I."

The Iranian president appeared standing and smiling in a FARS photo on Sunday at a meeting in Tehran with new ambassadors from several countries as they submitted their credentials.