Iran appoints new head for its atomic agency

Mohamed Abdelghaffar

The Iranian nuclear file is once more stirring up controversy, following a brief calm.

While Iran signed a deal with western powers, that came to be known as 5+1, in April 2015, US President Donald Trump pulled out of the deal three years later. This provoked more controversies about Iranian nuclear activities.

Six rounds of negotiations between the US and its allies, on one hand, and Iran, on the other, were held since April. Nonetheless, there is no sign that there will be a way out of the deadlock over the Iranian nuclear file.

This might explain why huge attention is being paid around the world to the latest appointment by the Iranian president of Mohammad Eslami as the head of Iran’s atomic agency.

Who is he?

There is scant information about Eslami. Most of the information written about the man in the past period was incorrect.

However, correct information about him was written by the Iranian news agency.

It said Eslami was born in 1957 and that he had obtained a master’s degree in construction and road building engineering from the University of Ohio in the United States in 1981.

The agency noted that Eslami also obtained a bachelor’s degree in the management of international air aviation in 2004.

Sharif University of Technology, from which Eslami obtained this bachelor’s degree, was the place where most of Iran’s leading figures studied and obtained their degrees.

These dignitaries included Ali Laijani, Iran’s former chief nuclear file negotiator.

Professional life

Eslami has an extensive professional record. On August 29, Iran’s new president Ebrahim Raisi appointed him as a personal aide and the chief of the Iranian Nuclear Energy Agency.

Before his appointment as the new head of the agency, Eslami used to be the minister of roads and city construction.

He was also the governor of Isfahan and an assistant head of industry and research at the Iranian Ministry of Defense.