Iran keeps UN-sanctioned Eslami as head of nuclear agency

Iran's newly elected president has retained Mohammad Eslami as head of the country's atomic agency, the ISNA news agency reported on Saturday.

President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote in a letter cited by ISNA that Eslami would remain in the job "due to his qualifications, valuable managerial experiences and executive record."

The 67-year-old will also serve as one of several of Iran's vice presidents.

Eslami's reappointment comes just days after Mohammad Javad Zarif was named as vice-president for strategic affairs on August 1. Zarif was Iran's chief negotiator for the 2015 nuclear deal with major powers.

Who is Mohammad Eslami?

Eslami was appointed as the head of Iran's nuclear department, the Atomic Energy Organisation (AEOI), for the first time in 2021 by President Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash in May.

He also served as Transport and Urban Development Minister under moderate former President Hassan Rouhani's rule.

Before that, he spent years working in Iran's military sector and at one point, as deputy defense minister responsible for research and industry.

The US-educated Eslami came under United Nations sanctions 16 years ago as head of Iran's Defense Industries Training and Research Institute.

He was accused by the UN of "being engaged in, directly associated with or providing support for Iran's proliferation of sensitive nuclear activities or for the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems."

Tehran wants to revive nuclear deal

Iran remains under heavy sanctions by the West following the collapse of the 2015 deal that curbed its nuclear activities in exchange for more favorable economic ties and sanctions relief.

The deal was effectively torpedoed when then-US president Donald Trump pulled out of it in 2018 and reimposed strict curbs, which banned nearly all American trade with the Islamic Republic.

The United States, France, Britain and Germany have accused Iran of escalating its nuclear activities far beyond the limits agreed by the 2015 deal and of failing to cooperate with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Tehran has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful and geared toward generating electricity and producing radiation to treat cancer patients. Iran also claims that the program remains under constant oversight by the IAEA.

Pezeshkian had said during his presidential campaign that he would try to revive the nuclear deal.

Iran is building two nuclear power facilities to boost its sole 1,000-megawatt reactor at the southern port town of Bushehr, which went online in 2011 with support from Russia.

Iran has a long-term plan to reach 20,000-megawatts of electricity capacity generated by nuclear energy.

The nation has in recent months faced country-wide power outages.

mm/rmt (AP, dpa, Reuters)