Mohammad Reza Aref

Mohammad Reza Aref is an Iranian politician, academic and member of the Iranian Parliament. He was First Vice President from 2001 to 2005 under Mohammad Khatami. He previously served as Minister of Technology in Khatami's first cabinet. He is currently a member of Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution and Expediency Discernment Council. 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. On 4 November 2014, Aref announced he will run for Parliament of Iran in the 2016 election from Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr district. He officially run 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.

Photo: Mohsen Vanaei / IRAN IMAGES