Weightlifting in Iran has a 100-year history. Mohammad Jafar Salmasi, who died in 2000, was an Iranian weightlifter who won Iran's first Olympic medal at the 1948 Olympic Games in London.

Iran started the sport with minimum amount of equipment but now is one of the most decorated countries in the world. 
The Iranian weightlifters have won nearly 100 Asian, worlds and Olympics medals so far, but the country has fallen short in terms of having international seats. 
Iran’s first chair in International Olympic Committee (IOC) dates back to 66 years ago. 
Hossein Sadeghi was appointed as the first president of Iran Weightlifting Federation in 1946 and after five years he became a member of cultural committee of the international federation. Sadeghi took charge of the position from 1951 to 1956.
In 1954, Abdolmajid Bakhtiar won a seat as IOC governing board member. Two years later, Bakhtiar was elected as one of the IOC vice-presidents in Melbourne congress. He stayed in his role until 1960. 
Four years later in 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Bakhtiar was elected as the International Weightlifting Federation first vice-president. He maintained the important role for four years. 
About 50 years after that, Iran has not played a key role in the world stage.
Dr. Asghar Shahabi, has been Iran’s only member of the IWF Medical Committee from 1988 to 2012, when he passed away after a lengthy and serious illness.
The International Weightlifting Federation will organize its Electoral Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, on 29th and 30th May 2017.
A total of 119 candidates have been proposed by 72 countries for the available 37 positions that are open to election by the IWF Congress. 
Head of Iran Weightlifting Federation Ali Moradi is standing for the Presidential, first vice-president, vice-president, Secretary General and an Executive Board Member seats.
Moradi has an uphill task ahead since he will have to vie with Tamas Ajan from Hungary, who has held the IWF president position since 2000. Previously, Ajan served as General Secretary of the IWF since 1976. 
Moradi is determined to end Iran's 50-year drought in global stage.
The Persian Gulf country has three other candidates for the Medical Committee (Davoud Baghery), Technical Committee (Alireza Ghoreyshi) and Research Committee (Mohsen Beiranvand). 
Iran wants more seats in the world stage as one of the powerhouse countries in weightlifting.
Without a doubt, the Iran federation’s efforts to win the elections are appreciable.
It doesn’t matter if the Iranian candidates will not win any seat in the elections. The Iranian weightlifting federation believes that is a starting point for it to earn the international seats in the future. 
The federation, now, needs more international seats than Olympics and world medals. This is the main goal at the moment.