Ali Akbar Velayati
Ali Akbar Velayati (Persian: علیاکبر ولایتی ⓘ; born 24 June 1945, Tehran) is an Iranian conservative politician and physician. He is currently a member of the Expediency Discernment Council. Velayati is a distinguished professor at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, senior adviser to the Supreme Leader in international affairs and head of the board of founders and the board of trustees of the Islamic Azad University.
Ali Akbar Velayati | |
|---|---|
| Member of Expediency Discernment Council | |
| Assumed office 17 March 1997 | |
| Appointed by | Ali Khamenei |
| Chairman | Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Ali Movahedi-Kermani (Acting) Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi Sadeq Larijani |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran | |
| In office 15 December 1981 – 20 August 1997 | |
| President | Ali Khamenei Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani |
| Prime Minister | Mir-Hossein Mousavi |
| Preceded by | Mir-Hossein Mousavi |
| Succeeded by | Kamal Kharazi |
| Member of the Iranian Islamic Consultative Assembly | |
| In office 28 May 1980 – 15 December 1981 | |
| Constituency | Tehran, Rey and Shemiranat |
| Majority | 858,305 (52.5%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 24 June 1945 Shemiranat County, Iran |
| Political party | Islamic Association of Physicians of Iran Islamic Coalition Party |
| Other political affiliations | Islamic Republican Party (1979–1987) National Front (1961–1970s) |
| Spouse(s) | Shirin Khoshnevisan (1980–2003, her death) Leyla Enayati (2007–present) |
| Children | 6 |
| Alma mater | Tehran University of Medical Sciences Johns Hopkins University |
| Awards | Order of Knowledge (1st class) |
| Signature | |
| Website | Official website |
He is also a member of Iranian Science and Culture Hall of Fame, Expediency Discernment Council's President of Center for Strategic Research, senior fellow of Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences, and also a former member of Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution. He is the secretary-general of the World Assembly of Islamic Awakening.
He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs for more than fifteen years from December 1981 to August 1997 under Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Presidents Ali Khamenei and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. He is the first and only person to have held this position for over ten years. He was a candidate in 2013 presidential election and lost, coming fifth out of the six candidates garnering 2,268,753 votes, which was 6.18% of the votes.