Qorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi

Qorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi was Mohammad Khatami's first Intelligence Minister, appointed in 1997 as a compromise candidate after hardliners blocked Khatami's preferred choice. His tenure coincided with the 1998 'chain murders' — the serial killing of reformist intellectuals, writers, and political activists by rogue elements of the Ministry of Intelligence. When evidence implicated the ministry itself, Dorri-Najafabadi resigned in 1999. He later served as Iran's Prosecutor General (2008–2009) and as a member of the Assembly of Experts. He was a member of the Guardian Council before his intelligence appointment.