During his time at the Qajar court, Neshat had risen to become a major figure of the bazgasht-e adabi ("literary return") movement, and an avid supporter of Fath-Ali Shah's promotion of such poets.

[3] His namesake maternal grandfather Abd ol-Vahhab, a patron of the arts, had been the governor of Isfahan and had bequated a large amount of wealth to his children.

[5] When Neshat reached the age of forty-three, due to rumours of his poetical gift, he was invited to move to the capital Tehran by Fath-Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1797-1834) in order to become a secretary in his court.

[2][6] Then, in 1809–1810, Neshat replaced Mirza Reza Qoli Nava'i as the head of the royal chancellery (monshi ol-mamalek) of Fath-Ali Shah, and received the title of Mo'tamed-ol-Dowleh.

He accompanied an Iranian mission sent by the Shah to French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and in 1817/8 he was sent to quell an uprising in the province of Bakharz and the fortress of Gorian near Herat, which was led by Bonyad Khan, the governor of these two towns.

Neshat was captured by the rebels while he was personally leading the Iranian army, but he was able to persuade Bonyad Khan to write a letter to Shoja-ol-Dowleh, the governor of Khorasan, and ask for pardon.

[2] Together with his successor as foreign minister Hajji Mirza Abol-Hasan Khan, Neshat strongly opposed going to war with Russia in 1826, a decision which sparked enmity from the mujtahids who called for jihad against the unbelievers.

Hambly, citing Fasa'i, explains that Neshat functioned as de facto prime minister during the last years of his life, although the titular incumbent was Abdollah Khan Amin ol-Dowleh.

[3] During his time at the Qajar court, Neshat had risen to become a major figure of the bazgasht-e adabi movement, and an avid supporter of Fath-Ali Shah's promotion of such poets.

[2] Considered to be especially noteworthy is Neshat's letter to George III (r. 1760–1820), in which he expressed grief about the breakdown of amicable relations between Great Britain and Iran.

[2] Two manuscripts of the Shahanshah-nameh, composed by Saba (Fath-Ali Khan Kashani), include a prose preface written by Neshat wherein he narrates the genesis of the composition.

Neshat was described as "... beyond all comparison the most eminent man at court for talents, probity, general popularity, and attachment to his master's interest" by the Scottish travel writer James Baillie Fraser (1783–856) at the time.