Former two-term President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has registered to run for the presidency of Iran in next month's presidential vote.

He reportedly suggested his April 12 appearance was merely an attempt to raise the profile of a controversial political ally who registered alongside him for the race, Hamid Baghaei.

Ahmadinejad left office in 2013 amid rumors of a falling-out with the country's highest political and religious authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Khamenei, and with the opposition still simmering over mass arrests and violence in a crackdown following protests over alleged irregularities in Ahmadinejad's reelection in 2009.

Khamenei was said to have indirectly cautioned Ahmadinejad last year against a new bid for the presidency, saying he had told “someone” who approached him for guidance to stay out of the election “both for his own good and also for the good of the country.”

Ahmadinejad’s candidacy reportedly could hint at a failure by conservatives and hard-liners to mount a unified challenge to incumbent President Hassan Rouhani, who has not officially registered but held a wide-ranging press conference on the eve of the five-day registration period to tout his perceived achievements.

A former prosecutor with hard-line credentials, Ebrahim Raisi, recently announced his own candidacy.

On April 12, Ahmadinejad told reporters that Khamenei had not expressly forbidden him from running. "The supreme leader recommended that I not participate in the election as a candidate.  I accepted that, although his advice was not a ban.  He said, 'I am not telling you whether to register or not,'" Ahmadinejad said.

Ahmadinejad said he was registering in support of former Vice President Baghaei, who applied to be a candidate alongside his former boss but could be excluded by the powerful Guardians Council over an arrest in 2015.

Another member of Ahmadinejad's inner circle, former aide Esfandiari Rahim Mashaei, who was himself disqualified from the presidential race in 2013, was also present at the April 12 registration.

Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA reports 126 people -- including six women -- registered as candidates on April 11, the first day of the five-day registration process.  Incumbent President Rouhani hasn't yet registered, but is widely expected to do so.

Meanwhile, Western media reports say the news that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has registered to run in Iran’s presidential elections in May is unexpected.

The New York Times reports the surprising decision by Mr. Ahmadinejad, who became notorious in the West by threatening Israel and denying the existence of the Holocaust, is likely to present a test for Iran’s establishment as it prepares for the presidential election on May 19.

According to CNN, the decision by Ahmadinejad to run in the country’s presidential elections in May could set up a contest pitting Ahmadinejad, known for his hardline views, against the incumbent President Hassan Rouhani, who has pursued a more moderate path since winning the 2013 election.

“If his candidacy is approved, then he hasn't been eliminated from Iran's political circle,” Paris-based analyst Taghi Rahmani told RFE/RL's Radio Farda.  “Ahmadinejad seems to believe he has nothing to lose.  If he's disqualified, he believes that it would bring him honor in the future for standing up to [Khamenei].”