Ahmadinejad challenges Hassan Rouhani to debate

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former Iranian president, has re-emerged from the obscurity of semi-retirement to challenge his successor, Hassan Rouhani, to a debate intended to defend his eight-year record in office.

In his first political intervention since stepping down last August, the firebrand ex-leader expressed umbrage at a recent televised speech in which Mr Rouhani took aim his stewardship of Iran's economy.

With uncharacteristic bluntness, Mr Rouhani said his predecessor had presided over "unprecedented stagflation" in an address made to mark his own administration's first 100 days at the helm.

Writing to the new president directly, Mr Ahmadinejad complained that the criticisms were "unfair and unsubstantiated". His decision to respond had been prompted by the demands of his supporters, he said.

"While I intended to keep quiet for the sake of the country's expediency, out of respect for the numerous requests of different groups of people - including economic and political experts - I saw it necessary to invite you for a direct, fundamental and clarifying debate in a completely friendly environment," Mr Ahmadinejad wrote. "I summon God as a witness that this invitation is not based on personal feelings but stems from religious and national duty."

Mr Rouhani - a moderate cleric whose landslide election last June was greeted with wild street celebrations - made little effort to disguise his disdain for Mr Ahmadinejad's performance in his November 26 appearance on state TV, two days after the signing of an interim agreement in Geneva on Iran's nuclear programme.

He said his predecessor had governed in a period of unprecedented oil revenues yet still managed to leave Iran more than £40 billion in debt. "These facts show the conditions we inherited from the previous government and in what conditions we must grapple with the problems," the president said.

Despite the criticism, Mr Ahmadinejad's six-paragraph letter addressed Mr Rouhani respectcully as "your excellency". It was signed "servant of the nation of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad".

A scanned copy was published by several Iranian news websites on Tuesday, suggesting Mr Ahmadinejad or one of his associates may have leaked it.

It drew a withering response from Mr Rouhani's office, where one official implied the former president was likely to deploy dishonest debating tactics.

"We welcome the debate but under one condition - that [Mr Ahmadinejad} observe truth and honesty," Akbar Torkan, supreme adviser to the president, told the semi-official Mehr news agency. "Hassan Rouhani and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are not at the same level to debate, but we welcome the accountability of the head of [the previous] government."

Mr Ahmadinejad's public response to Mr Rouhani's crtiicisms contrasted with his failure to appear at a recent court hearing, where he had been summoned to answer a range of charges brought by political opponents relating to his performance in government.

Telegraph