First Vice President of Iran appointed

President Pezeshkian, through a published decree, appointed Aref, a leading reformist figure and member of the Expediency Discernment Council, to the position of First Vice President.

WHO IS MOHAMMAD REZA AREF?

Born in the Iranian city of Yazd in 1951, Aref completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Tehran before graduating with master's and doctoral degrees in electrical and communications engineering from Stanford University in the United States.

Throughout his political career, Aref has held significant positions in Iran, having fought against the Shah's regime in the years leading up to the 1979 revolution. During this period, he was arrested multiple times. Beginning his political career in the post-revolutionary era, Aref served as the Deputy Chairman of the Telecommunication Company of Iran in 1981.

Appointed as the Minister of Information and Communications Technology in 1997 during the term of reformist leader and former President Mohammad Khatami, Aref was later appointed by Khatami as First Vice President in 2001.

Serving as the Chairman of the Reformists' Policymaking Council, Aref was a candidate in the 2013 presidential elections but later withdrew his candidacy in favor of Hassan Rouhani at the request of Khatami.

In the 2016 parliamentary elections in Iran, Aref succeeded in entering the Parliament from Tehran in first place, receiving the highest number of votes nationwide in that election. Since 2002, Aref has served as a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, a constitutional body that resolves disputes between the Parliament and the Guardian Council.

News Source: AA