Ahmadinejad, who remains a deeply polarizing figure even among Iranian hard-liners, had shocked the country by registering last week.

Former Iran leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been disqualified from running in the next presidential election, state media reported.

Current Iranian President Hassan Rowhani was among the six candidates selected for the upcoming presidential election, the country’s Guardian Council confirmed.

Ahmadinejad, who remains a deeply polarizing figure even among Iranian hard-liners, had shocked the country by registering last week. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had previously urged him not to run.

Ahmadinejad was president from 2005 to 2013, and was best known abroad for his incendiary rhetoric toward Israel, his questioning of the scale of the Holocaust and his efforts to ramp up Iran’s nuclear program.