eighteen years of experience as a solicitor beforehand, Karroubi began trading and investing himself. Political positions Domestic policies During his first term as speaker of Parliament, Karroubi was among the maktabi or "radical" faction of the majlis who contested the policies of President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. While Rafsanjani favored foreign investment and market reforms, Karroubi and others "sought to promote mass political participation and maintain state control of the economy". In fall of 1989 several radical clerics founded the Association of Combatant Clerics of Tehran, which Karroubi headed. Karroubi eventually left this association in 2005 and founded his own party, Etemad-e-Melli. His wife, Fatemeh, served as his social affairs advisors when he served as the chairman of the Majlis of Iran from 2000 until 2004. Mehdi Karroubi, an ethnic Lur, supports an approach where all people regardless of their gender, religion, or ethnicity can feel that they are part of Iranian government. He was outspoken in supporting the rights of religious and ethnic minorities. He visited churches, synagogues and Zoroastrian temples during his time as speaker of Parliament. Karroubi is a critic of the Guardian Council and on numerous occasions wrote letters to the council expressing his concerns. He criticized the nature of the Guardian Council's supervision over the elections. Foreign policies Karroubi and the National Trust Party support the idea of dialogue with the United States aiming at resolving long standing conflicts. Early after the election of Barack Obama as US president, Karroubi stated that the changes from the United States have been positive. Karroubi has been a critic of President Ahmadinejad's foreign policy and his infamous remarks about the Holocaust. Karroubi said: "The Holocaust is an event which did take place." He believes that the president's remarks cost Iran a great deal. Presidential campaigns 2005 presidential campaign Karroubi was among the reformist candidates in the presidential election of 2005, where he finished third in the vote count, closely following the front runners, ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Tehran mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. As neither gathered a majority of the vote, a run-off election was held on 24 June 2005, and won by Ahmadinejad. After the announcement of the election results, Karroubi alleged that a network of mosques, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and Basij militia forces had been illegally used to generate and mobilize support for Ahmadinejad. He then explicitly alleged that Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of the Supreme