Mahmoud Kashani parliament. Kashani founded Islamic Republican Party with Mohammad Beheshti and Mohammad-Javad Bahonar and was secretary-general of the party from 1979 to 1981. He was appointed as head of the Iranian delegation to the International Court of Justice in Iran's case with the United States in December 1981 by then-Prime Minister Mohammad-Ali Rajai but was removed from his position by Mir-Hossein Mousavi. He was independent candidate in 1985 presidential election which receives 1,402,416 (10.1%) of the votes behind winner Ali Khamenei. He was also nominated in 2001 presidential election which he lost to Mohammad Khatami and was ranked as the 5th
Mir-Hossein Mousavi in Shiraz, "Haft-e-tir Martyr's tomb" in Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra, and "Salman mosque" in the presidential residence are examples of his work. In recent years, he has been more active in painting and has participated in many exhibitions. Mousavi refused to run for the presidency in the 1997 elections, which caused the reformists to turn to his former Cabinet Minister, then a little-known cleric, Mohammad Khatami, who was elected by a landslide. During Khatami's administration, Mousavi served as the Senior Adviser to the President. Mousavi was considered the leading candidate from the reformist alliance to run in the Iranian presidential election,