Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi

Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi is an Iranian politician. He was a "senior adviser" to Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and deputy interior minister for political affairs.[8] He is said to have "strong ties to the Revolutionary Guard Corps and to the intelligence services" 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 and a [American] president's chief of staff."[9]

Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi
Vice Minister of Interior for Political Affairs
In office 27 September 2006[1] – 25 August 2007[2]
President	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Minister	Mostafa Pourmohammadi
Preceded by	Ali Jannati
Succeeded by	Alireza Afshar
Senior Aide to the President of Iran
In office 17 June 2009 – 3 August 2013
President	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Preceded by	position created
Succeeded by	Hesamodin Ashna
Top Advisor to the President of Iran
In office August 2005 – 14 April 2009[3]
President	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Preceded by	Mir-Hossein Mousavi
In office 2009 – 3 August 2013
Succeeded by	Akbar Torkan
33rd Mayor of Sanandaj
In office 4 February 1988 – 21 January 1989[4]
Minister	Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur
Governor-general	Alireza Tabesh
Preceded by	Morteza Zarrin-gol
Succeeded by	Mousa Moradiani
Personal details
Born	Kerman, Iran
Political party	Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran
Spouse	Ghasri Zarghami Sabet[5]
Children	3
Relatives	Mohammad-Javad Bahonar (uncle) Mohammad-Reza Bahonar (uncle)[6]
Alma mater	Iran University of Science and Technology[7]
Profession	Politician
Cabinet	9th Government 10th Government

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, near the border with Turkey. Reportedly, Samareh's connections with the Basij enabled Ahmadinejad to establish relations with that group and with the Revolutionary Guard Corps.[10]

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 to deliver a private message to President Jacques Chirac 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." Despite his close association with Mesbah-Yazdi, that cleric did not do well in the election and only came in sixth-place finish in the Tehran 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."[11]