[3] The Majalla claims that Naqdi is an Iraqi national of Iranian origin and the son of a Shiite cleric named Ali Akbar Thamahniy Shams, who was expelled from Iraq in 1980 among convoys of Moaveds and was placed in the city of Naqadeh with his family.

[2] Earlier in his career Naqdi served as the Iranian Police Force's Counter-Intelligence Chief[4] and is also reported to have been involved in "crackdowns" during the 1997-2005 administration of Khatami including the 1999 student protests.

[5] Amnesty International reported that in March 1999 Iranian authorities announced that General Naqdi, chief of police intelligence at the time, to be tried in May by a military court along with 10 of his subordinates.

"[10] Two weeks later on 23 February 2011, the US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on General Naqdi, "for being responsible for or complicit in serious human rights abuses in Iran",[11] adding him to the Office of Foreign Assets Control blacklist.

"[13] In an interview which aired on Al Manar TV on 16 September 2012 (as translated by MEMRI), Naqdi stated that if Israel attacks Iran "all options will be open to the Iranian people.