Mohammad Reza Aref

Mohammad Reza Aref
محمدرضا عارف
Aref in 2024
2nd and 8th First Vice President of Iran
Incumbent
Assumed office 28 July 2024
President	Masoud Pezeshkian
Preceded by	Mohammad Mokhber
In office 26 August 2001 – 10 September 2005
President	Mohammad Khatami
Preceded by	Hassan Habibi
Succeeded by	Parviz Davoodi
Member of the Parliament of Iran
In office 28 May 2016 – 26 May 2020
Constituency	Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr
Majority	1,608,926 (49.55%)
Member of Expediency Discernment Council
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 March 2002
Appointed by	Ali Khamenei
Chairman	Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Ali Movahedi-Kermani (Acting) Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi Sadeq Larijani
Supervisor of Presidential Administration of Iran
In office 26 August 2001 – 10 September 2005
President	Mohammad Khatami
Preceded by	Mohammad Hashemi Rafsanjani
Succeeded by	Ali Saeedlou
Vice President of Iran Head of Management and Planning Organization
In office 2 December 2000 – 11 September 2001
President	Mohammad Khatami
Preceded by	Mohammad-Ali Najafi
Succeeded by	Mohammad Sattarifar
Minister of Post, Telegraph and Telephone
In office 20 August 1997 – 17 June 2000
President	Mohammad Khatami
Preceded by	Mohammad Gharazi
Succeeded by	Nasrollah Jahangard (acting)
Personal details
Born	(1951-12-19) 19 December 1951 Yazd, Imperial State of Iran
Political party	Omid Iranian Foundation
Other political affiliations	Islamic Iran Participation Front (Founding member)
Spouse	Hamideh Moravvej Farshi
Children	3
Alma mater	University of Tehran Stanford University
Occupation	Academic
Signature
Website	ee.sharif.edu/~aref/

Mohammad Reza Aref (Persian: محمدرضا عارف, born 19 December 1951) is an Iranian engineer, academic and reformist politician who is the eighth and current first vice president of Iran since 2024, under President Masoud Pezeshkian. He is also currently member of the Expediency Discernment Council since 2002.

He was the parliamentary leader of reformists' Hope fraction in the Iranian Parliament, representing Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr. Aref has also been heading the Reformists' Supreme Council for Policymaking since its establishment in 2015.

He was also the second first vice president from 2001 to 2005 under Mohammad Khatami and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He previously served as Minister Information and Communications Technology and head of Management and Planning Organization in Khatami's first cabinet. He was a member of Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution until 2021. He is also an electrical engineer and a professor at University of Tehran and Sharif University of Technology. He was a candidate in the 2013 presidential election but withdrew his candidacy in order to give the reformist camp a better chance to win.

Early life and education

Aref was born on 19 December 1951 in Yazd. His father, Mirza Ahmad Aref, was a famous businessman.

He received a bachelor's degree in electronics engineering from the University of Tehran, and a master's degree and a PhD in electrical and communication engineering from Stanford University in 1975, 1976 and 1980, respectively. His PhD thesis was on the information theory of networks, supervised by Thomas M. Cover. He introduced and analyzed deterministic relay networks which is later termed as Aref Networks. During his education at Tehran University, he led many protests and was arrested by SAVAK prior to the Iranian Revolution.

Career

During his political career, Aref has held important positions in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Following 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. 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.

After Mohammad Khatami was elected as President of Iran, he nominated Aref as the minister of post, telegraph, and telephone that was later renamed to 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 Hassan Habibi resigned immediately after the election. After Habibi's resignation, he appointed Aref as his First Vice President. He served in this post until September 2005 and was succeeded by 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.

He was nominated for parliamentary election of 2008 as the reformist front's first in the list but he withdrew to protest the rejection of some candidates by the Guardian Council. In June 2013, Aref announced that he together with other reformist figures was planning to launch a national party, namely Hope of Iran. On the other hand, Iran's president-elect Hassan Rouhani stated that Aref will be one of his cabinet members. 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

Aref and his wife Hamideh at Fajr Film Festival

Aref was one of the potential candidates for the presidential elections held in June 2013. He said that he would not stand if Khatami ran but after Khatami declined, Aref announced that he would run in the election. He registered on 11 May 2013 and was confirmed by the Guardian Council. His major goals were lowering the unemployment rate and resolving high inflation. He pledged an extra 1 million jobs annually, which would include 200 thousand jobs from tourism development. He also added that if elected, his administration would bolster Iran's international relations and would find a "political solution" to closing the "[nuclear] dossier once and for all". Aref said he would remain "committed to the law" throughout the election process, promising to implement an economic plan to propel the country out of inflation and to achieve development and progress. Aref censured the foreign policy of the 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. 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",

Aref also said he is a reformist and reform means safeguarding the ideals of the Islamic Revolution, accountability and encouraging popular participation. He also called for investigation of alleged fraud in the 2009 election and trial of effects in Death of Neda Agha Soltan and other deaths in the 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 Mohammad Khatami, who advised to stand aside. He also called on the Iranian people to vote en masse in the upcoming presidential election to create a political epic and maintain the dignity of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Aref speaking in reformist alliance's electoral meeting in Tehran

2016 legislative election

On 4 November 2014, Aref announced he would run for Parliament of Iran in the 2016 election from 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. 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.

External links

• Official website (in English)