[1] He was the leader of the newly formed Office for Strengthening Unity, a group founded by Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti to counter the influence among university students of the anti-theocratic Mojahedin-e Khalq.

From 1982 to 1988, Asgharzadeh worked closely with future president Muhammad Khatami, who was then head of the official Kayhan newspaper and later became the minister of culture and Islamic guidance.

[5] In early 2001 he was a city council member in Tehran, speaking out against the news blackout of his candidacy imposed by reformist papers, and the polarization of presidential elections.

He attempted to run as a reformist presidential candidate in the 2001 election against then-incumbent President Mohammad Khatami, though aware of the "high possibility" he would be disqualified by the electoral supervisory body of the Guardian Council.

He said that he regretted the embassy takeover and that Iranian student leaders bore sole responsibility: "Like Jesus Christ, I bear all the sins on my shoulders".