President Rohani made two major non-cabinet appointments this week, naming former Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi to head the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and Mohammad-Ali Najafi to head the Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (ICHTO).
Salehi, 64, has a degree in nuclear science from MIT and headed the AEOI for a year-and-a-half until he was named foreign minister in 2010 by President Ahmadi-nejad. He will thus be returning to his old stomping grounds.
From 1997 to 2005, Salehi had been Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Given his long background in both nuclear science and foreign policy, it is expected he will have a major say in the preparations for nuclear talks with the West.
So far, he is the only major Ahmadi-nejad appointee held over by President Rohani.
Rohani also named Najafi, 62, who was defeated in the Majlis by a margin of just one vote for the post of minister
of education. Najafi was the only one of the three rejected minister-nominees to immediately get a new post.
Najafi was named one of several deputy presidents and given the portfolio of running the ICHTO. This is considered a major post as Rohani has said he wishes to make Iran a major tourist destination, taking advantage of the country’s unparalleled cultural history. Other presidents, however, have set the same goal, but have had only limited success given modern Iran’s world reputation, the dress code for women and the prohibition on alcohol.