Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has named Hassan Rouhani’s predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Iran’s Expediency Council, a top arbitration body that has supervisory and arbitration powers over other parts of the Iranian government, including the country’s powerful Council of Guardians.

In announcing the appointment, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised Ahmadinejad’s “worthy efforts” as president.

“Considering the profuse experience you gained during eight years of worthy efforts, I appoint you as a member of the Expediency Council,” read a statement posted on Khamenei’s website.

It is dominated by conservatives and acts as an advisory body for Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic republic who has final say on all key policies, including nuclear talks and foreign policy.

The move comes after Khamenei had already appointed new members to the Guardian Council, which among other things is responsible for vetting and purging candidates from Iranian elections. Khamenei praised Ahmadinejad’s “worthy efforts” as president, a few weeks after Ahmadinejad himself boasted about his Holocaust-denial efforts:

Outgoing Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said during a farewell ceremony Sunday that publicizing his Holocaust denial was a major achievement of his presidency.

“That was a taboo topic that no one in the West allowed to be heard,” Ahmadinejad said in a speech, according to the Iranian Fars news agency. “We put it forward at the global level. That broke the spine of the Western capitalist regime.”

[Photo: Lenziran Newsvideo / Youtube]