Ali Larijani

Ali Ardashir Larijani ( _fa. علی اردشیر لاریجانی; born 1958) is an Iranian philosopher, politician and the chairman/speaker of the Iranian parliament. [Orla Ryan, "Ahmadinejad rival elected as Iranian speaker", The Guardian, May 28, 2008, [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/28/iran.middleeast] .] Larijani was the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council from August 15, 2005 to October 20, 2007, appointed to the position by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,fa icon cite news
url = http://isna.ir/Main/NewsView.aspx?ID=News-569141
title = انتصاب دكتر لاريجاني به عنوان دبير شورايعالي عالي امنيت ملي از سوي رييس جمهور
work = isna.ir
publisher = Iranians Students News Agency
date = 15 August 2005
accessdate = 2007-10-21] 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.cite news
url = http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,22620039-401,00.html
title = Iran's nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani resigns
work = news.com.au
date = October 20, 2007
accessdate = 2007-10-21]

Larijani is one of the two representatives of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah 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.

Personal life

Ali Larijani is a son of Ayatollah Hashem Amoli, a brother of Sadegh Larijani (a cleric member of the Guardian Council), Mohammad Javad Larijani, Bagher Larijani (chancellor of Tehran University of Medical Sciences), and Fazel Larijani (Iran's cultural attachée in Ottawa). He is also the son-in-law of Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari, having married his daughter Farideh, and also a cousin of Ahmad Tavakkoli (Larijani's and Tavakkoli's mothers are sisters).

Education

Dr. Larijani holds a Ph.D. and Masters degree in western philosophy from Tehran University and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.Sc. in Computer Science and Mathematics from Sharif University of Technology. 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.

Presidential candidacy

Larijani was a presidential candidate for the 2005 presidential elections, where he ranked sixth, winning 5.94% of the votes. He was also the previous president of the IRIB, installed by the Supreme Leader, and was followed by Ezzatollah Zarghami after serving ten years in the post from 1994 to 2004.

Before his presidency at the IRIB, Larijani served as the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance under President Rafsanjani after Mohammad Khatami's resignation from the post.

Larijani, 50, was head of Iran's state broadcasting monopoly for 10 years before stepping down in 2004, to become a security adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's ultimate authority.

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.

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" ( _fa. شورای هماهنگی نیروهای انقلاب), 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

In 2005, Larijani was appointed secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, a body which helps draw up nuclear and other policies. Khamenei has the final word in all such matters.Fact|date=October 2007

He took a tough line on the nuclear file before his appointment as negotiator.Fact|date=October 2007 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.”Fact|date=October 2007

As chief nuclear negotiator, Iranian analysts said he differed with the presidentFact|date=October 2007 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 he said on April 25 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.cite news
url = http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,268290,00.html
title = Iran's Top Envoy Says He Expects 'New Ideas' From EU Official on Nuclear Issue
work = FoxNews.com
publisher = Associated Press (via Fox News)
date = April 25, 2007
accessdate = 2007-10-21]

2008 parliamentary election

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, in what was described by Time magazine as a political blow to Ahmadinejad. [ [http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1810456,00.html?xid=feed-cnn-topics&iref=werecommend Time: Are Ahmadinejad's Days Numbered?] ]

References

ee also

*Hassan Rowhani
*Supreme National Security Council

External links

* [http://www.channel4.com/news/special-reports/special-reports-storypage.jsp?id=1885 Ali Larijani interview] Interview with Jon Snow, Channel 4 News, live in Tehran. Mar 6, 2006.
* [http://www.larijani.ir/ The new air] Larijani's official campaign website (in Persian).
* [http://www.larijani.ir/NewsBody.aspx?ID=549 Larijani's biography on his campaign website] (in Persian).
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4417028.stm Frances Harrison, "Iran's Nuclear Negotiator,"] Interview with BBC News, Nov. 8, 2005.
* [http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3921/ Gareth Smyth. "Larijani's Pragmatist Reputation Faces Severe Challenge,"] "Financial Times" (London), Jan. 10, 2006.
* [http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/4003/ Transcript of interview with Roula Khalaf and Gareth Smyth,] "Financial Times" (London), Jan. 22, 2006.
* [http://wwww.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=526 Suspension of Uranium Enrichment Is Like Denying Iran Nuclear Technology] Feb. 2005 transcript

Video clips

* [http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20041020_MemriTV_Popup/video_480x360.asp?ai=214&ar=526wmv&ak=null Suspension of Uranium Enrichment Is Like Denying Iran Nuclear Technology] Feb. 2005