List of Famous people born in Mashhad, Iran

Grand Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei is a Twelver Shia Marja' and the second and current supreme leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously President of Iran from 1981 to 1989. Khamenei is the longest serving head of state in the Middle East, as well as the second-longest serving Iranian leader of the last century, after Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Esmail Qaani is an Iranian brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and commander of its Quds Force — a division primarily responsible for extraterritorial military and clandestine operations. Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei appointed Qaani as Commander of the Quds Force and is the successor of Qasem Soleimani.

Navid Negahban is an Iranian-American actor. He has appeared on 24, Homeland, Mistresses and as Amahl Farouk / Shadow King in the second and third seasons of FX's Legion. He has also starred as The Sultan in the live-action remake of Aladdin.

Anousheh Ansari is an Iranian American engineer and co-founder and chairwoman of Prodea Systems. Her previous business accomplishments include serving as co-founder and CEO of Telecom Technologies, Inc. (TTI). The Ansari family is also the title sponsor of the Ansari X Prize. On September 18, 2006, a few days after her 40th birthday, she became the first Iranian and first female Muslim in space. Ansari was the fourth overall self-funded space tourist, and the first self-funded woman to fly to the International Space Station. Her memoir, My Dream of Stars, co-written with Homer Hickam, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2010.

Maryam Monsef is an Afghan Canadian politician. She was elected to represent the riding of Peterborough—Kawartha as a Liberal member the House of Commons of Canada in 2015. A member of the 29th Canadian Ministry, she is the current Minister for Women and Gender Equality, sworn in on January 10, 2017, and Minister of Rural Economic Development, sworn in on November 20, 2019. She was previously the Minister of International Development, until November 20, 2019, and Minister of Democratic Institutions and President of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada until January 10, 2017.

Sayyid Ebrahim Raisol-Sadati, commonly known as Ebrahim Raisi, is an Iranian politician, Muslim cleric and the current Chief Justice of Iran, having been appointed on 7 March 2019. He has served in several positions in Iran's Judicial system, such as Attorney General, and Deputy Chief Justice. He was also Prosecutor and Deputy Prosecutor of Tehran in the 1980s and 1990s. He was Custodian and Chairman of Astan Quds Razavi, a bonyad, from 2016 until 2019. He is also a member of Assembly of Experts from South Khorasan Province, being elected for the first time in 2006 election. He is the son-in-law of Mashhad Friday prayer leader and Grand Imam of Imam Reza shrine, Ahmad Alamolhoda.

Ahmad Ahmadi, known as Pezeshk Ahmadi meaning Physician Ahmadi, was born in Mashhad to Mohammad Ali Ahmadi. He worked as a nurse at Qasr prison in Tehran, where he was ordered to kill political prisoners; he was later executed for these crimes.

Shahrokh Mirza Afshar, better known by his dynastic name of Shahrokh Shah, was a king of the Afsharid dynasty and a contemporary of the Zand kings.

Sayyid Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei is a son of Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran. He served in the Iran–Iraq War from 1987–1988. He also reportedly took control of the Basij militia that was used to suppress the protests over the 2009 election.

Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani, commonly known as Ayatollah Sistani, is one of the most influential Iraqi Shia marja' of Iranian origins living in Iraq.