Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi is an Iranian politician. He was a "senior adviser" to

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian president

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (born Mahmoud Sabbaghian on 28 October 1956) is an Iranian Iranian principlists, principlist and Iranian nationalism, nationalist politician who served as the sixth president of Iran from 2005 to 2013. He is currently a mem ...

and deputy interior minister for political affairs. He is said to have "strong ties to the

Revolutionary Guard Corps The Libyan Revolutionary Guard Corps (''Liwa Haris al-Jamahiriya''), also known as the Jamahiriyyah Guard, was a paramilitary elite unit that played the role of key protection force of the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, until his death in October 2 ...

and to the

intelligence services An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives. Means of info ...

" and to be "a constant presence at the president's side, in every cabinet meeting and during midday prayers at the office..." and acting "more as a cross between Iran's

Karl Rove Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration until his resignation on August ...

and a mericanpresident's chief of staff." He studied with Ahmadinejad at the Iran University of Science and Technology in the late 1970s, and like Ahmadinejad, he is a dedicated student of "ultra-conservative" cleric Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi. Later on, thanks to their friendship, Ahmadinejad received his first official job, as the mayor of Maku and

Khoy Khoy (, ) is a city in the Central District (Khoy County), Central District of Khoy County, West Azerbaijan province, West Azerbaijan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Occupied since Medes, Median times, ...

, near the border with Turkey. Reportedly, Samareh's connections with the

Basij The Basij (, lit. ''The Mobilization'') or Sâzmân-e Basij-e Mostaz'afin (, lit. ''Organization for Mobilization of the Oppressed''), is a paramilitary volunteer militia within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and one of its five ...

enabled Ahmadinejad to establish relations with that group and with the

. Prior to his role as adviser he was sponsored by Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi for, and quickly appointed to, a critical job, director of placements, at the Foreign Ministry of Iran, in the early 1990s. In September 2006 he flew to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

to deliver a private message to President

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, ; ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Pari ...

from president Ahmadinejad. Very shortly afterward, he was appointed deputy interior minister for political affairs, (though he continued his full-time duties as senior adviser). In October 2006 he was "appointed head of the election commission, supervisor of the poll for the

Assembly of Experts The Assembly of Experts (), also translated as the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership or as the Council of Experts, is the deliberative body empowered to appoint the Supreme Leader of Iran. All directly elected members must first be vetted ...

." Despite his close association with Mesbah-Yazdi, that cleric did not do well in the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

and only came in sixth-place finish in the

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

municipality, "barely squeezing into his seat in the Assembly". Samareh Hashemi resigning from the election commission a "few months later in the summer of 2007."Majd, ''The Ayatollah Begs to Differ'', (2008), p.49–50

References

Living people Vice ministers of Iran Iran University of Science and Technology alumni Presidential advisers of Iran Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran politicians People from Kerman province Year of birth missing (living people) Iranian campaign managers {{Iran-politician-stub