Nateq-Nouri was the interior minister of the Islamic Republic.[1] He served as the Chairman of the Parliament from 1992 to 2000. He was a candidate in the Iranian presidential election in 1997.[2][3] He was Khamanei's preferred candidate, but he lost the election to Mohammad Khatami.[4] He was given nearly seven million votes, whereas Khatami twenty million votes.[5] He currently serves as an advisor to Iran's supreme leader[6] and is a critic of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He officially visited Egypt in 2010.[6]