Mostafa Mir-Salim

Sayyid Mostafa Agha Mirsalim (born 9 June 1947) is an Iranian engineer and conservative politician.

Mostafa Mir-Salim
Member of the Parliament of Iran
Incumbent
Assumed office 27 May 2020
Constituency	Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat, Eslamshahr and Pardis
Majority	892,318 (48.45%)
Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance
In office 22 February 1994 – 19 August 1997
President	Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Preceded by	Ali Larijani
Succeeded by	Ata'ollah Mohajerani
Advisor to the President of Iran for Research
In office August 1989 – February 1994
President	Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Succeeded by	Hassan Ghafourifard
Top Advisor to the President of Iran
In office August 1982 – August 1989
President	Ali Khamenei
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Supervisor of Presidential administration
In office August 1982 – August 1989
President	Ali Khamenei
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Hamid Mirzadeh[1]
Personal details
Born	Seyed Mostafa Agha Mir-Salim[2] (1947-06-09) 9 June 1947 Tehran, Iran
Nationality	Iranian
Political party	Islamic Coalition Party
Other political affiliations	Islamic Republican Party (1980–87)
Children	3, 2 daughters and 1 son[3]
Alma mater	University of Poitiers École nationale supérieure de mécanique et d'aérotechnique IFP School
Signature
Website	Official website
Military service
Allegiance	Iran
Years of service	1980–1981
Commands	Shahrbani

He was a presidential candidate at the 2017 election which placed third with receiving 1.16% of the votes.[4]

Early life and education

He obtained B.Sc. in Mechanics from Universite de Poitiers in 1969, M.Sc. in Mechanics from École nationale supérieure de mécanique et d'aérotechnique and M.Sc. Fluid Mechanics & Thermodynamics from Attestation d`Eludes Approfondies, Universite de Poitiers both in 1971 and M.Sc. in Internal Combustion Engines from École Nationale Supérieure du Pétrole et des Moteurs in 1972.[2]

He worked as an intern in Alsace Mechanical Industries until 1976, when he returned to Iran.[5] He worked at Tehran Metro as the operational director from 1976 to 1979.[5]

Career

Mir-Salim served as the national police chief following the Iranian Revolution.[6] He was proposed by then president Abulhassan Banisadr in July 1980 as a candidate for the prime minister as a compromise candidate acceptable to both Banisadr and the Majlis dominated by the Islamic Republican Party.[6][7] However, Banisadr was pressured to accept Mohammad-Ali Rajai instead.[7] From 1981 to 1989, Mir-Salim was the advisor to then president Ayatollah Khamenei.[8]

In the beginning of 1989, on the occasion of the death and funeral of Hirohito, the 124th Emperor of Japan who had ruled for over 60 years until he died on January 7, Mir-Salim and Hossein Saffar Harandi, a Member of Parliament and the Chairman of Parliament Committee on Agriculture, went to the Imperial Palace in Tokyo to attend the Rites of Imperial Funeral on February 24 with Mohammad Hossein Adeli, Ambassador Extraordinary Plenipotentiary in Japan, and his wife.[9]

Mir-Salim was appointed Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance in 1994.[8] His tenure was characterized by a strongly conservative Islamist direction, aiming to stave off the "cultural onslaught" of Western culture and promote pious Islamic culture in its place, including through the use of repressive measures. The Ministry under his direction was particularly known for closing a number of reformist newspapers.[10]

He was later appointed to the Expediency Discernment Council.[11]

He is Assistant Professor of mechanical engineering at Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran.[2]

Electoral history

Year	Election	Votes	%	Rank	Notes
2017	President	478,267	1.16%	3rd	Lost[12]
2020	Parliament	892,318	48.45%	2nd	Won

Personal life

According to Iranian Diplomacy, Mirsalim is married to a French woman.[5] He is fond of swimming and usually wears shenandoah beard, collarless tuxedos and dark calottes that serve as his signature look.[5]

References

1. Hamid Mirzadeh
2. "S. Mostafa Agha Mirsalim homepage". Amirkabir University of Technology. Archived from the original on 2014-01-01. Retrieved 2013-06-27.
3. "مشخصات شناسنامه‌ای 6کاندیدای ریاست‌جمهوری". 21 April 2017.
4. Kumaraswamy, P. R.; Quamar, Md. Muddassir; Singh, Manjari (2019). Persian Gulf 2018: India's Relations with the Region. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 60. ISBN 978-981-13-1977-8.
5. "Mostafa Mirsalim: Back after Two Decades", Iranian Diplomacy, 18 December 2016, retrieved 1 May 2017
6. "Iran's Police Chief Chosen as Premier in Compromise Move". The New York Times. 27 July 1980. p. 1.
7. Mohsen M. Milani (1994). The Making of Iran's Islamic Revolution: From Monarchy to Islamic Republic. Westview Press. p. 176. ISBN 0-8133-8476-1.
8. Feuilherade, Peter (1 April 1994). "Iran: media and the message". The Middle East. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
9. Diplomatic Blue Book: the Year of 1989 - 5. Delegation Representatives of Countries and Organizations that Attended the Rites of Imperial Funeral of Emperor Shōwa (『外交青書 1989年版』 - 5.「昭和天皇大喪の礼」に参列した国及び国際機関の代表) (in Japanese), published by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
10. Mehdi Moslem (2002). Factional Politics in Post-Khomeini Iran. Syracuse University Press. pp. 221–223. ISBN 0-8156-2978-8.
11. "Appointment of New members of Expediency Discernment Council". 17 March 1997.
12. "Final results of presidential election by province and county" (in Persian). Ministry of Interior. 8 June 2017. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2017.