Tehran, July 17: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has appointed Ali Akbar Salehi, Khatami-era envoy to the International Atomic Energy Organization (IAEA), as the new head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization.
Salehi is replacing the seasoned Gholam Reza Aqazadeh, who stepped down last week after holding the key post for 12 years.
The announcement was made in a July 16 cabinet meeting, during which President Ahmadinejad revealed a number of changes to his cabinet.
Aqazadeh, who also quits as a vice president, had submitted his resignation letter to the president 20 days ago, ISNA news agency reported on Thursday.
The veteran official, who also served as oil minister from 1985 to 1997, did not disclose the reasons behind his move.
Salehi served as Iran’s Ambassador to the IAEA during presidency of the reformist Seyyed Mohammad Khatami. He also was the president of the prestigious Sharif University of Technology in Tehran.
He holds a PhD in technical science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Salehi signed the Additional protocol in 2003 as a voluntary confidence-building measure on behalf of Iran.
The Additional Protocol requires member states to provide an expanded declaration of their nuclear activities and grants the agency broader rights of access to nuclear sites in the country.
Iran’s Majlis – or parliament – refused to ratify the Additional Protocol, as it transpired that the western powers had intended to make permanent Iran’s voluntary and temporary suspension of enrichment, to which Iran had agreed as a confidence-building measure.
In February 2006, Iran suspended its voluntary implementation of the Additional Protocol, saying the suspension was totally a voluntary measure which did not oblige Tehran to stick to it forever.
—–Agencies