After the end of the war, he became Managing-Director of Khatam al-Anbia, an engineering firm controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and was appointed as commander of the IRGC Air Force in 1996 by Ali Khamenei.

Moshir (born 1968) joined her husband as an adviser and head of women's affairs in the Municipality of Tehran.

In 1998, when Mohsen Rezaei retired and Yahya Rahim Safavi took over as IRGC's new commander-in-chief, he was named Commander of Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

[16] Following the 1999 protests, he was appointed as chief of the Iranian Police Forces by the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, to succeed General Hedayat Lotfian who was removed from his office during the violence.

[3] On 5 April 2005, Ghalibaf submitted his resignation from the military positions (including the police forces) due to his intention to run for the presidency of Iran.

When Ghalibaf lost the 2005 election, he was proposed as Mayor of Tehran along with Mohammad Aliabadi and Mohammad-Ali Najafi.

Three such men became close comrades and helped build a web of influence that strengthened their respective positions: Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Ahmad Kazemi, and Qassem Soleimani.

[20]In the 2013 Iranian presidential election Soleimani reportedly voted for Qalibaf, who represented IRGC veterans' interests, against moderate candidate Hassan Rouhani, who eventually won.

[20] Ghalibaf was a candidate in the Iranian presidential election of 2005,[21] and was being considered to be supported by some factions of the conservative alliance because of his popularity with both wings.

[22] On 13 October 2008, he announced his support for dialogue with the United States as suggested by then-presidential candidate Barack Obama.

[24] Ghalibaf received 6,077,292 votes (16.55%), putting him in second place behind winner Hassan Rouhani, who was elected as the new president.

[25] Hours after the announcement of the results, Ghalibaf published a statement congratulating Hassan Rouhani on his election as President of Iran and conceding.

[29] Ghalibaf has been accused of using his influence as a former IRGC commander to cover up corruption scandals that took place in Tehran during his term as mayor.

[31][32][33] In April 2022, photos were published on Twitter that showed Ghalibaf's wife, Zahra Sadat Moshirand, and members of Ghalibaf's family at Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport, returning from a luxury shopping trip in Turkey with 20 pieces of luggage, which were said to be a layette for their newborn child.

[34] The scandal, dubbed LayetteGate or SismuniGate by Iranian Twitter users, led to calls for him to step down as speaker of Parliament, with critics accusing Ghalibaf of being out of touch for his family shopping overseas during an economic crisis,[35] and hypocrisy, pointing to comments made during his 2017 presidential campaign, where he criticized a former minister for traveling to Italy to purchase baby clothes.

When this came to light Iranians joined a petition asking the Canadian government not to grant the younger Ghalibaf a visa.

"[40] All these scandals however, did not stop Ghalibaf running for parliamentary election in 2024 and staying as speaker of the house in Islamic Republic's parliament.