Kamal Kharazi
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Kamal Kharazi (Persian: کمال خرازی) (born December 1, 1944 in Tehran as Ali-Naghi Kharazi علینقی خرازی), was the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs as appointed by President Mohammad Khatami, serving for eight years from August 20, 1997 to August 24, 2005. He was replaced by Manouchehr Mottaki, as appointed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Previously, he represented Iran at the United Nations, from 1989 to 1997. He is trained as an educator, and experienced in the news media.
For several years Kharazi has presented the official Iranian position on TV and at university campuses in the United States and Europe, and has written extensively on foreign policy issues. He had extensive experience in guiding the media during the early days of Iran's Iranian Revolution.
He got his B.Sc. in Civil Engineering and after receiving his master's degree in education at the University of Tehran, he spent a year (1975-1976) as teaching fellow at the University of Houston, where he received a doctorate in education (1976) before returning to Iran. He has been a Professor of Management and Educational Psychology at Tehran University since 1983. Kharazi was a founding member of the Islamic Research Institute in London.
During the first months after the Iranian revolution, Kharazi served as the Vice President of Iranian National Television (March to August, 1979) for the new Islamic state. He then served as the Vice Minister for Political Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (August, 1979 to March, 1980) and as the Managing Director of the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (August, 1979 to July, 1981).
From July, 1980 to September, 1989, he was the President of the Islamic Republic News Agency. On September 18, 1980, the Iran-Iraq War broke out, and Kharazi served as a member of the Supreme Defense Council of Iran and headed the War Information Headquarters for most of the war (September, 1980 to September, 1988).
Kharazi has held a number of governmental, diplomatic and academic posts and headed Iranian delegations at numerous international conferences, most importantly at the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
He has written or translated a number of textbooks and articles on education and management.
Kharrazi is married and has two sons.
