Career
Military career
He joined the Army of the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution in 1981 and participated in the Iran-Iraq War. After the war, he joined the Khatam Anbia Troops, the Guards' engineering and construction company. Ghasemi became deputy commander of the troops in 2001 after Mohammad Ali Jafari became the new head. On 1 September 2007, Jafari was appointed as chief commander of Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Rostami succeeded Jafari. He was retired from the military in August 2011.
Political career
He was elected as a member of the Parliament from his country of birth, Shiraz in the legislative election of 1988. He was reelected in 1992 and 1996. On 26 July 2011, he was nominated as Minister of Petroleum by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to succeed Masoud Mir Kazemi. He was confirmed by Parliament on 3 August 2011. He was President of OPEC for 2011.