Zanjani had strong political ties with Iranian conservatives and was a member of Combatant Clergy Association.

Zanjani holds no secular academic degree [3] and was appointed by Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi, the minister of Science, Research, and Technology in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's cabinet on 27 December 2005.

At the time of his appointment as the chancellor of Tehran University, Zanjani was a lecturer with a ranking equivalent to "associate professor".

On 5 February 2008, Zanjani was replaced by economist academic Farhad Rahbar after three-days demonstration organized by Tehran University students.

In 2006, the Ahmadinejad government systematically forced numerous Iranian scientists and university professors to resign or to retire; this policy has been referred to as the "second cultural revolution".