The Man to Watch in Iran?

PBS/Tehran Bureau ^

[nuconvert]

Ali Akbar Salehi: Iran's foreign minister...and future president?

After the 1979 Iranian Revolution, the Islamic Republic's new leaders confronted the dilemma of what to do with the remnants of the Pahlavi monarchy. One such remnant was the partially constructed nuclear power plant located in the southeastern city of Bushehr along the Persian Gulf. Construction of the plant by a group of German companies had begun just four years earlier, under Mohammad Reza Shah.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordered the creation of a five-person fact-finding committee to investigate the Bushehr plant and advise on its status. One of its members was a young graduate of the nuclear engineering doctorate program at MIT, Ali Akbar Salehi, who in late 2010 became one of the most prominent figures in Iranian politics when he was appointed foreign minister by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

After visits to the Bushehr facility, the committee was unable to reach a consensus. Three of its members argued for the plant's destruction, while two -- including Salehi -- believed it should be completed and brought on line. Occupied by the war with Iraq, Khomeini decided neither to continue work on the plant nor to destroy it, putting off the

matter until a later date.

For many years afterward, Salehi kept a safe distance from politics and pursued a career in academia, serving as chancellor of Sharif University of Technology, regarded as the Iranian MIT.

Then, in 1997, President Mohammad Khatami was looking to name a new envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), someone with both expertise in the field and sufficient distance from the regime's power elite to avoid international objections to his appointment. He chose Salehi.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks nuconvert.

Ali Akbar Salehi: Iran's foreign minister... After the 1979 [overthrow of the Shah] [the mullahcracy] confronted the dilemma of what to do with the remnants of the Pahlavi monarchy. One such remnant was the partially constructed nuclear power plant located in the southeastern city of Bushehr... After visits to the Bushehr facility, the committee was unable to reach a consensus. Three of its members argued for the plant's destruction, while two -- including Salehi -- believed it should be completed and brought on line.

[AdmSmith]

Another candidate if there is a “normal development” in the ME is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saeed_Jalili . If Syria will disintegrate within a few months Iran will be in dire straits and anything can happen.

[Rocky]

Is it this guy?

Oh, wait. That's not a guy.