Mohammed Sharif Malekzadeh is a deputy foreign minister of Iran and a "close ally" of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He was arrested June 23, 2011. No charges were given in the report of his arrest[1] but he has been accused of financial irregularities. He is thought to be the "most senior"[1] of the "at least 25" associates[2] of Ahmadinejad to be arrested as part of the 2011 rift between the president and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. (Others include Abbas Amirifar and Kazem Kiapasha.[3]) According to Aljazeera, "Malekzadeh had been at the centre of a dispute between members of parliament, who opposed his nomination, and Ali-Akbar Salehi, Iran’s foreign minister. Salehi's initial refusal to remove him (Malekzadeh) prompted more than 30 parliamentarians to petition the speaker for the minister’s impeachment."[4] Malekzadeh resigned from his post June 21, "only a week after he was appointed" according to The Guardian[5]