Ahmadinejad to quit politics when term ends

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has revealed that he will retire from politics when his second term as President ends next year.

Mr Ahmadinejad was quoted in Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung newspaper as saying that he planned to return to academia. Although he might engage in political activity at a university, he said: "I will not found any political party or group."

Mr Ahmadinejad cannot run in next year's election because of term limits. Asked whether, like Russia's Vladimir Putin, he envisioned returning to the presidency at a later date, he replied: "No, eight years are enough."

Relations between Ahmadinejad and parliament are increasingly strained. In March he became the first president in the Republic's history to be summoned to the assembly for questioning