Mehdi Hashemi

Mehdi Hashemi was a Shia cleric who headed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Bureau for Liberation Movements, overseeing Iran's revolutionary export operations including support for Hezbollah and Afghan mujahideen groups. A close associate of Hossein-Ali Montazeri — his brother Hadi was Montazeri's son-in-law — Hashemi opposed Iran's secret arms dealings with the United States during the Iran-Iraq War. He leaked details of the covert arrangement, including Robert McFarlane's May 1986 visit to Tehran, to the Lebanese magazine Ash-Shiraa, whose publication on 3 November 1986 triggered the Iran-Contra affair scandal. Arrested in October 1986 on charges including treason, sedition, and murder, he was tried by a Special Clerical Court and executed on 28 September 1987. His prosecution and execution weakened the political position of his patron Montazeri and is widely seen as part of the power struggle between Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's pragmatist camp and the revolutionary-export faction.