Sam Mirza was appointed governor of Herat (in present-day Afghanistan) during his early years, following the tradition of educating Safavid princes by assigning them governorships under the supervision of experienced amir of the Qizilbash.

During his time in Herat, he witnessed the remnants of the zenith of Persian culture from the reign of the Timurid ruler Sultan Husayn Bayqara (r. 1469–1506), but also became entangled in the political struggles of his Qizilbash guardians.

After an unsuccessful military campaign against the Mughal city of Kandahar in 1534, which resulted in significant losses and the fall of Herat to the Uzbeks from the Khanate of Bukhara, Sam Mirza's political career was effectively ended, despite his attempts to apologize to his suzerain and brother Shah Tahmasp I (r. 1524–1576).

[6] The tradition of educating the princes of the reigning dynasty for handling government functions from an early age was continued by Ismail I and his eldest son and successor Tahmasp I.

They did this by giving them the governorship of a province under the supervision of a guardian (lala), which was an experienced amir of the Qizilbash,[1] who were Turkoman warriors and the main force of the Safavid military.

During his time in Herat, Sam Mirza experienced the remnants of the zenith of Persian culture under the Timurid ruler Sultan Husayn Bayqara (r. 1469–1506) and was involved in the power struggle of his guardians.

[1] Following the murder of Hoseyn Khan Shamlu in 1534, Sam Mirza was persuaded into disobedience and took advantage of the Qizilbash troops that were assigned to him to protect Herat against the Uzbeks from the Khanate of Bukhara.

Ignoring the shah's instructions, he sent them on an unsuccessful expedition against the Mughal city of Kandahar, which resulted in the death of many of the Qizilbash troops, including Aghzivar Khan Shamlu.

[1][10] Sam Mirza, forced to flee through Sistan to Tabas, left Herat vulnerable, allowing the Uzbeks to seize control and subject the city to fourteen months of brutal rule.

[1] The scribe and historian Ahmad Ghaffari Qazvini worked under Sam Mirza during his period, composing the universal history Tarikh-e negarestan in 1552.

[1] It was inspired by the similar work Majalis al-Nafais ("Assemblies of Precious Things") by Ali-Shir Nava'i[13] and used the same style as that of the Tadhkirat al-shu'ara ("Biography of Poets") by Dawlatshah Samarqandi.

[1] Two elements are consistently present in the biographies: the place of origin and a verse quotation, though often limited to a single line, typically the first couplet (matla') of a ghazal.