| Mehdi Samii | |
| Office: | Ambassador-at-large and Advisor to the Prime Minister for International Financing |
| Term Start: | 1971 |
| Term End: | 1973 |
| Primeminister: | Amir-Abbas Hoveyda |
| Office1: | Governor of the Central Bank of Iran |
| Term Start1: | 1970 |
| Term End1: | 1971 |
| Primeminister1: | Amir-Abbas Hoveyda |
| Predecessor1: | Khodadad Farmanfarmaian |
| Successor1: | Abdolali Jahanshahi |
| Term Start2: | 1964 |
| Term End2: | 1969 |
| Deputy2: | Khodadad Farmanfarmaian |
| Primeminister2: | Hassan-Ali Mansur |
| Predecessor2: | Ali-Asghar Poorhomayoon |
| Successor2: | Khodadad Farmanfarmaian |
| Office3: | Head of Plan and Budget Organization of Iran |
| Term Start3: | 1969 |
| Term End3: | 1970 |
| Primeminister3: | Amir-Abbas Hoveyda |
| Predecessor3: | Mohammad-Safi Asfia |
| Successor3: | Khodadad Farmanfarmaian |
| Party: | |
| Birth Date: | 1918 6, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Tehran, Qajar Iran |
| Death Place: | Los Angeles, California, USA |
| Relatives: | Fereydoun Mahdavi |
Mehdi Samii (Persian: مهدی سمیعی; 1918–2010) was an Iranian chartered accountant, banker and economist.[1] Samii is credited as "one of the chief architects of Iran's rapid economic and Industrial growth in the 1960s", as well as "a midwife of in the creation of the [Central] bank [of Iran]" and "more than anyone else responsible" for it.[1] According to Abbas Milani, "the fact that the bank was a relatively independent institution, free from corruption and political interference and unusually efficient", is attributed to his leadership.[1]
Samii was born in Tehran in 1910.[1] [2] He held office as the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (1964–1969; 1970–1971), the head of Plan and Budget Organization of Iran (1969–1971) and Ambassador-at-large (1971–1973).[1] Before that, Samii rejected job offers for ministerial roles twice: Once in 1960 when Jafar Sharif-Emami offered him the role of the minister of agriculture and the next in the following year when Ali Amini proposed that he become minister of commerce.[1]
He was a co-founder of Iranian Institute of Certified Accountants.[1] He died in 2010.[2]