Ali Akbar Salehi
Iran
Vice President as Head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran
government
Ali Akbar Salehi is an Iraqi-born Iranian academic, diplomat and former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, who served in this position from 2009 to 2010 and also from 2013 to 2021. He served for the first time as head of the AEOI from 2009 to 2010 and was appointed to the post for a second time on 16 August 2013. Before the appointment of his latter position, he was foreign affairs minister from 2010 to 2013. He was also the Iranian representative in the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1998 to 2003.
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Sep 17, 2026
Center
Former Foreign Minister said a society where asking questions is treated as a crime cannot be dynamic or creative, and insisted the door to dialogue must never be closed.
Pragmatists view Salehi as the most credible internal voice for opening political space, but note his critique stops short of challenging the Guardian Council's vetting architecture that makes such dialogue structurally impossible.