Mahmoud Alavi

Sayyid Mahmoud Alavi (; born 4 May 1954) is an Iranian, conservative politician, and the minister of intelligence in Hassan Rouhani's government.
Early life.
Alavi was born in Lamerd, Fars province, in 1954. He holds a PhD in Islamic jurisprudence and law from Ferdowsi University in Mashad.
Career.
Alavi is a cleric and a scholar of Islamic jurisprudence. He holds the religious rank of Ayatollah. He is the former head of the political and ideological body of the Iranian Army to which he was appointed by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Alavi served in the post from 2000 to August 2009. In addition, Alavi was Khamenei's special representative in the army until August 2009. He also assumed the post of deputy defense minister.
He served at the Majlis as Tehran representative for four terms during the terms of former presidents Rafsanjani and Khatami. He ran for office in the list of Resistance Front of the Islamic Revolution led by Mohsen Rezaee in the 2012 election. However, Alavi's nomination was rejected by the Guardian Council on the grounds that he did not have "practical commitment to Islam and the regime."
He is a member of the Assembly of Experts. He served as Hassan Rouhani’s liaison officer for the city of Qom and the institutions there in the 2013 presidential elections. Alavi was designated as intelligence minister by Rouhani on 4 August 2013. He was approved for the post on 15 August by the Majlis with 227 Yes votes.
Views.
Ali Reza Eshraghi of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill argues that Alavi is a principalist politician in the Iranian political arena. He is, therefore, a conservative figure and close to Mohsen Rezaee. Alavi publicly criticized the Ali Akbar Rafsanjani's disqualification for the 2013 presidential election soon after the election.