Ali Larijani

Ali Larijani
Larijani in 2009
Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran
Incumbent
Assumed office 2 May 2008
President	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Deputy	Mohammad-Reza Bahonar
Preceded by	Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel
Secretary of Supreme National Security Council
In office 15 August 2005 – 20 October 2007
President	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Preceded by	Hassan Rowhani
Succeeded by	Saeed Jalili
Head of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
In office 21 July 1994 – 21 July 2004
President	Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Mohammad Khatami
Preceded by	Mohammad Hashemi
Succeeded by	Ezzatollah Zarghami
Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance
In office 12 September 1992 – 28 August 1994
President	Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Preceded by	Mohammad Khatami
Succeeded by	Mostafa Mir-Salim
Member of Parliament of Iran
Incumbent
Assumed office 20 April 2008
Constituency	Qom
Majority	270,382 (64.1%)
Personal details
Born	Ali Ardashir Larijani علی اردشیر لاریجانی (1958-06-03) 3 June 1958 Najaf, Iraq
Nationality	Iranian
Political party	Islamic Society of Engineers
Spouse(s)	Farideh Motahari (m. 1978)
Children	Fatemeh, Sarah, Morteza, Mohammad Reza
Profession	Western philosophy
Religion	Shia Islam

Ali Ardashir Larijani (Persian: علی اردشیر آملی لاریجانی‎; born 3 June 1958) is an Iranian philosopher, politician and the current chairman of the Parliament of Iran. Larijani was the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council from 15 August 2005 to 20 October 2007, appointed to the position by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, replacing Hassan Rowhani. Acceptance of Larijani's resignation from the secretary position was announced on October 20, 2007 by Gholamhossein Elham, the Iranian government's spokesman, mentioning that his previous resignations were turned down by President Ahmadinejad.

Larijani is one of the two representatives of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to the council, the other being Hassan Rowhani. In his post as secretary he effectively functioned as the top negotiator on issues of national security, including Iran's nuclear program.

Early life

Larijani was born on 3 June 1958 in Najaf, Iraq. His family is a religious one based in Behshahr in the province of Mazandaran. His parents moved to Najaf in 1931 due to pressure of then ruler Reza Shah, but returned back to Iran in 1961. Larijani is a brother of Sadegh Larijani (President of the Judicature), Mohammad Javad Larijani, Bagher Larijani (Chancellor of Tehran University of Medical Sciences), and Fazel Larijani (Iran's former cultural attachée in Ottawa). Larijani is also a cousin of Ahmad Tavakkoli (Larijani's and Tavakkoli's mothers are sisters).

Education

Larijani graduated with a bachelor of science degree in computer science and mathematics from Sharif University of Technology and holds a master's degree and Ph.D. in Western philosophy from Tehran University. Initially, he wanted to continue his graduate studies in computer science, but changed his subject after consultation with Morteza Motahhari. Larijani has published books on Immanuel Kant, Saul Kripke, and David Lewis.^{[citation needed]}

Political career

His first political career after return to Iran was CEO of IRIB in foreign affairs. From 1981 to 1989, He was Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Affairs in the Government of Mir-Hossein Mousavi. After election of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as President of Iran, He was appointed Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Technology. After Mohammad Khatami's resignation as Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, he was appointed as acting minister and was confirmed by Parliament on 1 October 1992. On 21 July 1994, He was appointed as head of Head of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) and was in office until his term was end on 21 July 2004 and was followed by Ezzatollah Zarghami after serving ten years in the post. He became a security adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's ultimate authority in August 2004. He is also a former member of the Revolutionary Guards, an ideological force that sees itself as the guardian of the Islamic Republic, he ran in the 2005 presidential race.

Presidential candidacy

Main article: Iranian presidential election, 2005

Larijani was a presidential candidate for the 2005 presidential elections, where he ranked sixth, winning 5.94% of the votes.

Larijani was considered the most important presidential candidate of the conservative alliance for the 2005 presidential elections. He was supported by the Islamic Society of Engineers (ISE), among other conservative groups. He had been announced as the final choice of the conservative Council for Coordination of the Forces of the Revolution, which was made from representatives of some influential conservative parties and organizations. But he proved to be the least popular of the three conservative candidates, the others being Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (second rank in the first round, winner in the second round) and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (fourth rank in the first round).

Nuclear advisor

Larijani in 2007 Munich Security Conference

In 2005, Larijani was appointed secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, a body which helps draw up nuclear and other policies, by Khamenei. Larijani took a tough line on the nuclear file before his appointment as negotiator.^{[citation needed]} He said that if Iran took incentives that were being offered by the European Union at the time in return for Iran giving up its nuclear fuel cycle, it would be like exchanging “a pearl for a candy bar.”^{[citation needed]} As chief nuclear negotiator, Iranian analysts said he differed with the president^{[citation needed]} over how to pursue negotiations with his European counterparts and say he backed a more pragmatic approach.

Iranian nuclear crisis

As Iran's top nuclear envoy Larijani said on 25 April 2007 that he expected "new ideas" from senior EU official Javier Solana at talks on resolving the deadlock between Tehran's refusal to freeze its nuclear programme and United Nations Security Council demands that it do so.

Chairman of the Parliament

In the March 2008 parliamentary election, Larijani won a seat from Qom. He said that he was willing to work with Ahmadinejad; according to Larijani, he did not disagree with Ahmadinejad on ideological issues and they had only "differences in style". In May 2008, Larijani became speaker of the parliament. He was reelected in next years as chairman of the parliament. He was re-elected in 2012 elections as the Qom district's high receiving candidate. He was also elected for another term as chairman of the parliament on 5 June 2012 and was sworn in 11 June 2012.

After 2009 presidential elections

Larijani implied on 21 June 2009 that authorities took the side of one candidate, without clarifying which candidate.

Just after the election, Larijani reportedly congratulated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi as he, having "access to firsthand and classified information and news", believed Mousavi had won the election. However, on the 22nd of October 2012, during a QA meeting with the students of Iran University of Science and Technology, Larijani denied the allegations that he had congratulated Mousavi.

Personal life

Larijani is the son-in-law of Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari, having married his daughter Farideh. He has two daughters, Fatemeh (born 1980) and Sarah (born 1983) and two sons, Morteza (born 1984) and Mohammad Reza (born 1989).

References

Political offices
Preceded by Mohammad Khatami	Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance 1992-1994	Succeeded by Mostafa Mir-Salim
Preceded by Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani	Head of IRIB 1994-2004	Succeeded by Ezzatollah Zarghami
Preceded by Hassan Rowhani	Secretary of Supreme National Security Council 2005-2007	Succeeded by Saeed Jalili
Preceded by Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel	Speaker of Parliament of Iran 2008-present	Succeeded by Incumbent
Order of precedence
Preceded by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as President of Iran	order of precedence of Iran as Speaker of the Parliament of Iran	Succeeded by Sadegh Larijani as Chief Justice of Iran