Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi (born in 1953 Kerman) is an Iranian politician and was the former minister of science and technology in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's first cabinet from 2005 to 2009. He was approved by Iran's parliament with the least number of supporting votes possible (supporters had only one vote more than opponents). He was elected as a Member of the Parliament in 2012 elections.
Zahedi received his PhD in Mathematics from Kerman University where he is currently a "full professor". However, his scientific qualification has been questioned widely by Iranian scientific community. Zahedi has 15 scientific articles in ISI with very few citations (most of them self citations). He repeatedly called himself "one of the greatest mathematicians of the time". With such a minor scientific achievement he was promoted to full professorship in 1999 (when he had only published 11 articles). Zahedi's profile claims he is a member of New York Academy of Sciences. An investigation by BBC Persian in July 2009 debunked this claim. His profile also claims that he was named among the most prominent Mathematicians of the century by American Mathematical Society for which there is no evidence found on American Mathematical Society website.
Read more about Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi: Expulsion of University Scientists, Expelling The Politically Active Students, Ignoring Scientific Merit in Appointments, Political Life, Publications