Mahdi Zeinoddin was born in Tehran on the 11th of October 1959. His father owned a bookstore and he spent most of his youth selling books and helping his father around the bookstore. His mother was a Quran teacher. During his high school years, he developed political views and established close ties with Ayatollah Asadollah Madani. He opposed the regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. At this time, his family were living in Khorramabad when his father was exiled to Saqqez due to his political activities. Here, he was expelled from the high school for refusing to join the Rastakhiz Party and for resisting against the Pahlavi regime. Despite this, he continued his education and earned a diploma in natural science. In 1977, he gave several university entrance exams and was accepted by Shiraz University. After a period of time, his father was banished to Fars Province once again. Once again, his family were exiled to Saqqez due to his father's political activities and thus, he was unable to continue his studies. After a while, his father was once again exiled from Saqqez to Eqlid and as revolutionary activity had started, his father secretly moved to Qom with his family. Along with other politically influential characters, Mahdi and his father continued their revolutionary efforts in Qom. Mahdi was accepted to a university in France, but he decided not to go after hearing that Imam Khomeini was urging the youth to stay in Iran.
Following the Iranian Revolution, Zeinoddin joined the intelligence section of the IRGC and was pivotal in quelling the enemies of the Revolution in Tabriz and Qom. During the Iran-Iraq War, Zeinoddin went to the front lines with a group of one hundred people after passing a short military course. After a while, he was elected as the head of the intelligence section and then he became the mission director of intelligence for the IRGC in Dezful and Susangerd. He was then elected as the commander of the 17th Ali ibn Abi Taleb Division. He participated in the following operations:
On the 18th of November 1984, Mahdi Zeinoddin and his brother were travelling from Kermanshah to Sardasht when they were attacked by secession-seeking forces and they were both killed. He was buried in the 5th sector of the Gulzar-e Shuhada Cemetery in Qom.
