Dear reader, this item mistakenly was based on a video that unfortunately was old and we apologize for the error. However, we will not delete the item for now.

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Iran’s former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had kept silent during the recent anti-regime protests, has finally criticized the crackdown on protesters.

In a video published, Ahmadinejad said “the money spent on suppressing people should be spent on solving the country's problems.”

He also mentioned that claims by “corrupt gangs” of security and intelligence organs, who only want to “bug” people, are not valid because it is not possible to label everyone “anti-regime”.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he called on Islamic Republic officials to listen to people’s demands and solve their problems, saying otherwise “we may not have a chance to make up for it tomorrow.”

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was conspicuously nowhere to be seen within the past four months as Iran was experiencing its biggest uprising in more than four decades.

The camera-loving populist politician fell out with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in May 2011 over firing the leader's favorite intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi, and even refused to go to work for a couple of weeks.

Since 2017, Ahmadinejad has often been critical of the regime and spoken about change. He has separated himself from the government as much as he possibly could, but lack of a large grassroot support left him isolated.

With his background, it is unlikely that the youngsters, who have taken to the streets, would see him or his vaguely defined populist plans as part of the bigger picture they have in mind for Iran's future.