Ali Akbar Mohtashamipur (Persian: سید علی‌اکبر محتشمی‌پور‎; 30 August 1947[citation needed] – 7 June 2021), also known as Mohtashami, was an Iranian Shia cleric and former interior minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

While ambassador to Syria, he is thought to have played a "pivotal role" in the creation of the Lebanese radical Shia organization Hezbollah, working "within the framework of the Department for Islamic Liberation Movements run by the Iranian Pasdaran."

[13][14][15] In 1986 his "close supervision" of Hezbollah was cut short when the Office of Islamic Liberation was reassigned to Iran's ministry of foreign affairs.

[26]While Mohtashami was a strong opponent of Western influence in the Muslim world and of the existence of the state of Israel,[27] he was also a supporter and advisor of reformist Iranian president Mohammad Khatami who is famous for having championed free expression and civil rights.

[32] In 1984, after the Beirut bombings, Mohtashami received a parcel containing a book on Shia holy places when he was serving as Iranian ambassador to Damascus.

The identity of the perpetrators of the attack was long unknown,[34] but in 2018 Ronen Bergman, in his book Rise and Kill First, revealed that the Israelis were behind the assassination attempt.