Mohammad Reza Aref

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Mohammad Reza Aref
محمدرضا عارف
Minister of Post, Telegraph and Telephone
In office
20 August 1997 – 17 June 2000
PresidentMohammad Khatami
Preceded byMohammad Gharazi
Succeeded byNasrollah Jahangard (acting)
Personal details
Born (1951-12-19) 19 December 1951 (age 73)
Yazd, Imperial State of Iran
Political partyOmid Iranian Foundation[1]
Other political
affiliations		Islamic Iran Participation Front (Founding member)[2]
SpouseHamideh Moravvej Farshi
Children3
Alma materUniversity of Tehran
Stanford University
OccupationAcademic
Signature
Websiteee.sharif.edu/~aref/ Edit this at Wikidata

Mohammad Reza Aref (

reformist politician who is the eighth and current first vice president of Iran since 2024, under President Masoud Pezeshkian.[3][4] He is also currently member of the Expediency Discernment Council
since 2002.

He was the parliamentary leader of reformists'

Reformists' Supreme Council for Policymaking since its establishment in 2015.[5]

He was also the second first vice president from 2001 to 2005 under

reformist camp a better chance to win.[7][8]

Early life and education

Aref was born on 19 December 1951 in Yazd.[9][10][11] His father, Mirza Ahmad Aref, was a famous businessman.

He received a bachelor's degree in electronics engineering from the

Iranian Revolution
.

Career

During his political career, Aref has held important positions in

the Islamic Revolution, he began his political career. His first major political post was in 1981 when he became vice president of communication company. He later became acting president of the company in 1983 and became deputy minister of science on the following year. Aref was a faculty member of Isfahan University of Technology
until 1994.

Aref, who was a professor at University of Tehran, was elected as its chancellor in 1994.[9] He began his career with creating Faculty of Social Sciences and also Institute of Geophysics. After his appointment as minister of technology, Aref was resigned as chancellor of the Tehran University in 1997.[9]

After

minister of communications and information technology
. He became the first head of management and planning organization in 2000 after resigned as Minister of Communication.

Aref during a campaign for supporting Green Movement in June 2009

Khatami was reelected in 2001 and his former vice president

Parviz Dawoodi after the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Then, he served as a professor in the department of electrical engineering at Sharif University of Technology, offering courses on cryptography, coding theory, estimation theory and Information Theory. He is currently one of the members of the Expediency Discernment Council that is an advisory unit for Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.[11]

He was nominated for parliamentary election of

reformist front's first in the list but he withdrew to protest the rejection of some candidates by the Guardian Council.[14] In June 2013, Aref announced that he together with other reformist figures was planning to launch a national party, namely Hope of Iran.[15] On the other hand, Iran's president-elect Hassan Rouhani stated that Aref will be one of his cabinet members.[16] However, Aref rejected Rouhani's invite for a political post (Vice Presidency or Ministry of Science
) to focus on his party's establishment. He also announced his interest in becoming one of Rouhani's advisers in politics and human rights.

2013 presidential election

Main article: Mohammad Reza Aref 2013 presidential campaign
See also: 2013 Iranian presidential election
Aref and his wife Hamideh in Mashhad during a campaign meeting
Fajr Film Festival

Aref was one of the potential candidates for

Ahmadinejad's administration, vowing to improve Iran's diplomatic ties with other countries if elected president. He added that the next administration can have friendly ties with the world and improve the conditions in the country through such relations. Aref also said he would pursue and implement plans to further the presence and participation of the youth in various arenas of the country.[citation needed
] Vowing to tackle unemployment, Aref said he aimed all-out development in various political, cultural, economical and social fields.

"By implementing the subsidy reform plan I will put bread on the tables. I have come to eradicate inflation and create one million job opportunities every year",[citation needed]

Aref also said he is a

protests
.

Aref announced his decision to drop out of the election in a statement issued late on 11 June, in which he said the decision was made after he received suggestions from former President

Islamic Republic of Iran.[20]

Aref speaking in reformist alliance's electoral meeting in Tehran

2016 legislative election

On 4 November 2014, Aref announced he would run for

Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr district. He officially ran for the seat on 22 December 2015. He was also named as the Pervasive Coalition of Reformists
' head list.

He was elected to the Parliament with 1,608,926 votes which was the highest in the election. All other 29 Reformists candidates also run to the parliament, the first time since 1980 that all candidates are run from same party in Tehran district.

Personal life

Aref married Hamideh Moravvej Farshi in 1976.[21] Hamideh has a PhD in dermatology and also works at the ministry of science. They have three sons.

In 2017, his son Hamid Reza said in an interview "I'm proud that [my] capabilities come from 'good genes'...", which sparked controversy.[22]

References

  1. ^ "A look at Iranian newspaper front pages". Iran Front Page. 26 October 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2016.
  2. ISBN 0-944029-39-6
  3. ^ "Pezeshkian names Aref as first vice president". Tehran Times. 28 July 2024. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
  4. ^ "Mohammad Reza Aref appointed as 1st VP". president.ir. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  5. ^ "Iranian Reformists and February Parliamentary Elections", Iranian Diplomacy, 13 November 2015, retrieved 24 April 2017
  6. ^ Political posts of Mohammad-Reza Aref Archived 14 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ "Aref withdrew from the election".
  8. ^ "Iran's Mohammad Reza Aref quits presidential race". BBC News. 11 June 2013. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
  9. ^ a b c d "Biographies of Eight Qualified Candidates for Iran Presidential Election". Iran Review. 22 May 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
  10. ^ Dr Aref Maslehat
  11. ^ a b c d "Mohammad Reza Aref". Iran Election Watch. Archived from the original on 4 February 2013. Retrieved 13 February 2013.
  12. ^ Aref, Mohammad R. (1980). Information flow in relay networks (Thesis).
  13. S2CID 14022387
  14. ^ Bozorgmehr, Najmeh (7 February 2008). "Khatami calls Iran poll disqualifications a 'disaster'". Financial Times. Tehran. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  15. ^ "Iranian Reformist Candidate, President-Elect Explore Forming New Party". Payvand. Radio Zamaneh. 29 June 2013. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
  16. ^ "Who Might Serve in Rowhani's Cabinet?". Iran's View. 22 June 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  17. ^ Al Jazeera, Candidates profile
  18. ^ Pedram, Ali M. (12 June 2013). "Iran: Khatami returns to front-line politics". Asharq Alawsat. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  19. ^ Iran’s Aref Quits Presidency Race to Focus Reform Vote on Rohani Bloomberg
  20. ^ عارف فقط انصراف داد
  21. ^ Who will be next First Lady? Archived 6 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  22. ^ Golnaz Esfandiari (5 September 2017), "Firestorm in Iran As Politician's Son Credits 'Good Genes' For His Success", Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, retrieved 5 September 2017
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mohammad Reza Aref.
Assembly seats
Vacant
Title last held by
Mohammad Reza Tabesh
as Head of "Imam's line fraction"
reformists
Head of Hope fraction

2016–2020 		Vacant
Academic offices
Preceded by
Gholam-Ali Afrooz
Chancellor of University of Tehran

1994–1997 		Succeeded by
Mansour Khalili
Political offices
Preceded by
Minister of Information and Communications Technology

1997–2000 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Mohammad Ali Najafi
Head of Management and Planning Organization

2000–2001 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
First Vice President of Iran

2001–2005 		Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Most voted MP for
Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr
2016
 Succeeded by
Non-profit organization positions
New title
NGO founded
 Head of Omid Iranian Foundation
2009–present 		Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by
2009
 Vacant
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