Rohani becomes Iran’s new president
Sat Jun 15, 2013 3:46PM GMT
Of the 36,704,156 votes tallied, Rohani won a total of 18,613,329
votes, securing 50.70 percent of the vote.
The newly-elected Iranian president was born into a religious family
on November 13, 1948 in the city of Sorkheh in Semnan Province.
Rohani started his religious education in 1960 at Semnan Seminary. One
year later, he moved to the holy city of Qom. In 1969, he was admitted
to Tehran University and received his BA in law after three years.
Rohani earned his MA and PhD in law from Glasgow Caledonian
University.
Rohani was involved in the struggle against the Pahlavi regime as a
young man. After Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s return from exile in
France in 1979, Rohani was politically active in Europe. He held
question-and-answer sessions with students in Britain and France.
Rohani was elected to parliament following the establishment of the
Islamic Republic and served as a lawmaker for five consecutive terms
until 2000. He held positions such as deputy Majlis Speaker and head
of the Defense and Foreign Policy committees.
During the 1980-1988 Iraqi imposed war, Rohani served as member of the
High Council of Defense, commander of the Iran Air Defense and deputy
commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces.
Rohani currently represents Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah
Seyyed Ali Khamenei in the Supreme National Security Council, and is
member of the Expediency Council and the Assembly of Experts. He is
also President of the Expediency Council’s Center for Strategic
Research.
Rohani speaks fluent English, Arabic and Persian and has written
nearly 100 books and articles as well as conducting 700 different
research projects.
PG/HGH/SL