Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

Biography of newly-appointed Foreign Ministry caretaker

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Dec 13, IRNA -- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a decree on Monday assigned Ali-Akbar Salehi as caretaker of the Foreign Ministry.

Salehi was an associate professor and chancellor of Sharif University of Technology as well as Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI).

Salehi, holding BS degree from Beirut University, got his Ph.D. in technical sciences in the US in 1977.

Being a member of the faculty of the Mechanical Engineering College of Sharif University of Technology as an Associate Professor, Salehi served as chancellor of the University from 1982 to 1984 and from 1989 to 1993.

Salehi was appointed as the AEOI Head on July 17, 2009, and was the one who signed the protocol under which Iran joined the NPT. He also had served as Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energey Agency.

He had been Under-Secretary General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference from 2007-09.

Salehi replaced Reza Aqazadeh as the AEOI head after his predecessor resigned from the post in July 2009.