PROFILE: Salehi: Iran's new diplomatic chief

Mon, 13 Dec 2010

Tehran - Ali-Akbar Salehi, the man appointed Iran's acting foreign minister after the dismissal of Manouchehr Mottaki, is expected to eventually become the country's top diplomat.

Born in 1949 in the southern Iraqi city of Kerbala, Salehi came to Iran at the age of nine and after completing high school, he attended the American University of Beirut in Lebanon, graduating in mechanical engineering.

Fluent in Arabic, Salehi continued his studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he gained a doctorate in nuclear engineering and learned to speak English fluently.

Back in Iran, he mainly lectured at the technical university inf Tehran before being appointed envoy at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna - a post he held from 1997-2005.

After Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president in 2005, he was tipped to become foreign minister, but it was Mottaki who got the job.

Salehi continued his academic career until 2008 when Ahmadinejad appointed him vice president and head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization.

Ideologically Salehi is not on the same wavelength as the president and does not follow Ahmadinejad's harsh rhetoric. He is widely known as a technocrat and a stickler for detail.

Unlike his predecessor Mottaki, Salehi is not a man of long speeches but said to get directly to the point in talks with international officials.

With regards to the nuclear dispute, Salehi is considered a better person to turn to by the West as he is one of the architects of the nuclear talks that have taken place with world powers in recent years.

Unlike Mottaki, he is not familiar not only with the political but also the technical aspects of the dispute, due to his time at the IAEA and as atomic chief.

He is said to be in favor of a resolving the dispute, although he also stresses the right to pursue peaceful nuclear technology and not making concessions in the nuclear talks.

No major changes are expected under Salehi on other international issues, as the basic framework of Iran's foreign policy is determined by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Ahmadinejad and the foreign ministry basically implements the relevant decisions.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/357975,irans-new-diplomatic-chief.html.