SAEDNEWS: A nostalgic photograph of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s former president, has resurfaced online, capturing him and his friends in a contemplative dormitory pose from the 1980s, sparking renewed public curiosity about his early life.
According to Saed News, a rarely seen photograph of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—who served as Iran’s president from 2005 to 2013—has been making the rounds on social media. The image, taken in the 1980s, shows a young Ahmadinejad alongside close associates, including Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi, in a shared university dormitory at Iran University of Science and Technology, where the future president completed his engineering studies.
The photo has drawn attention for its distinctively retro atmosphere—typical of Iran’s war-torn “Sālhā-ye Shast” (the 1360s in the Iranian calendar)—featuring Ahmadinejad and his peers staring into the distance with solemn expressions, a pose that has been widely interpreted online as reflective of the ideological intensity of the era.
Born in 1956, Ahmadinejad began his political ascent in the early 1990s, serving as the first governor of Ardabil Province before becoming Tehran’s mayor in 2003. His controversial presidency was marked by economic populism, international defiance, and a polarizing presence on the world stage. He remains a figure of intrigue in Iranian politics, currently a member of the Expediency Discernment Council and a faculty member at his alma mater.
The resurfaced photo adds a personal dimension to a public figure often associated with fiery rhetoric and hardline postures, revealing a younger, more introspective Ahmadinejad in a moment of quiet camaraderie long before he entered the political spotlight.
