PROFILE: Iran Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi

Sun, 30 Jan 2011

Tehran - Technocrat Ali-Akbar Salehi has become Iran's foreign minister after a confirmation vote of parliament Sunday.

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 with a degree in mechanical engineering.

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

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

After Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president in 2005, Salehi was expected by some to become foreign minister, but Manouchehr Mottaki got the job.

Salehi continued his academic career until 2008 when Ahmadinejad appointed him vice president and head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, a position he still holds despite his appointment as foreign minister.

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 is said to get directly to the point in talks with international officials.

With regards to the nuclear dispute, Salehi is considered a better interlocutor by the West as he is one of the architects of the nuclear talks with world powers in recent years.

Unlike Mottaki, he is familiar with the technical as well as the political aspects of the dispute. He is said to favor a resolution through the talks, although he stresses the right to pursue peaceful nuclear technology.

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 the president, while the foreign ministry basically implements the relevant decisions.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/364956,foreign-minister-ali-akbar-salehi.html.