When al-Qaeda was on the run from Afghanistan crossing through Iran, some were arrested and they are imprisoned. Some of them are charged with some actions in Iran.

He was also chairman in the Second Season. What Hitler and the German Nazis did to the Jews of Europe at that time was partly due to these circumstances with the Jews.

Currently he is chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran. He supports a free market position domestically favoring privatization of state-owned industries and a moderate position internationally seeking to avoid conflict with the United States and the West. In 2005 he ran for a third term in office placing first in the first round of elections but ultimately losing to rival Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the run-off round of the 2005 election.