Ali Akbar Velayati

Ali Akbar Velayati
Member of Expediency Discernment Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 March 1997
Appointed by	Ali Khamenei
Chairman	Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Ali Movahedi-Kermani (Acting) Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi Sadeq Larijani
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran
In office 15 December 1981 – 20 August 1997
President	Ali Khamenei Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Prime Minister	Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Preceded by	Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Succeeded by	Kamal Kharazi
Member of the Iranian Islamic Consultative Assembly
In office 28 May 1980 – 15 December 1981
Constituency	Tehran, Rey and Shemiranat
Majority	858,305 (52.5%)
Personal details
Born	(1945-06-24) 24 June 1945 (age 79) Rostamabad, Iran
Political party	Islamic Association of Physicians of Iran Islamic Coalition Party[1]
Other political affiliations	Islamic Republican Party (1979–1987) National Front (1961–1970s)
Spouse(s)	Shirin Khoshnevisan (1980–2003, her death) Leyla Enayati (2007–present)[2]
Children	6
Alma mater	Tehran University of Medical Sciences Johns Hopkins University
Awards	Order of Knowledge (1st class)[3]
Signature
Website	Official website

Ali Akbar Velayati (Persian: علی‌اکبر ولایتی English pronunciation^ⓘ; born 24 June 1945) is an Iranian conservative politician and physician. He is currently a member of the Expediency Discernment Council. Velayati is a distinguished professor at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, senior adviser to the Supreme Leader in international affairs and head of the board of founders and the board of trustees of the Islamic Azad University.

He is also a member of Iranian Science and Culture Hall of Fame, Expediency Discernment Council's President of Center for Strategic Research, senior fellow of Iranian Academy of Medical Sciences, and also a former member of Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution. He is the secretary-general of the World Assembly of Islamic Awakening.

He was the Minister of Foreign Affairs for more than fifteen years from December 1981 to August 1997 under Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Presidents Ali Khamenei and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. He is the first and only person to have held this position for over ten years. He was a candidate in 2013 presidential election and lost, coming fifth out of the six candidates garnering 2,268,753 votes, which was 6.18% of the votes.