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Ali Akbar Moinfar

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Ali Akbar Moinfar
Minister of Petroleum
In office
29 September 1979 – 28 May 1980
Prime MinisterMehdi Bazargan
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byMohammad Javad Tondguyan
Minister without Portfolio for Plan and Budget
In office
13 February 1979 – 29 September 1979
Prime MinisterMehdi Bazargan
Succeeded byEzzatollah Sahabi
Member of the Parliament of Iran
In office
28 May 1980 – 28 May 1984
ConstituencyTehran, Rey and Shemiranat
Majority1,439,360 (67.4%)
Personal details
Born(1928-01-14)14 January 1928
Tehran, Pahlavi Iran
Died2 January 2018(2018-01-02) (aged 89)
Tehran, Iran
Political partyFreedom Movement of Iran (affiliate non-member)
Alma mater

Ali Akbar Moinfar (Persian: علی‌اکبر معین‌فر; 14 January 1928 – 2 January 2018) was an Iranian politician and the first oil minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran, serving briefly from 1979 to 1980. He later served as a member of the Parliament of Iran from 1980 to 1984, representing Tehran, Rey and Shemiranat.

Early life and education

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Moinfar was born in Tehran on 14 January 1928.[1] He graduated from the University of Tehran with a degree in structural engineering in 1951. He furthered his studies in seismic engineering under Professor Seiji Naito in Waseda University, Japan.[2][3][4] He was a founding member of the Islamic Association of Engineers.[5]

Career

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Moinfar worked at the plan and budget organization during the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.[6] He had connections with the Freedom of Iran movement, which was led by Mehdi Bazargan.[6] However, this link was not formal, and he never attached himself to the movement.[7]

Following the 1979 revolution, Moinfar became one of the members of the Revolutionary Council.[3][8][9] He also acted as the spokesman of the council.[10] He was named minister of budget and planning to the interim government headed by Mehdi Bazargan.[11]

In September 1979, Moinfar was appointed oil minister in a cabinet reshuffle, becoming the first oil minister of Iran,[2][12] when the office was established.[6][13] He was also appointed chairman and managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), replacing Hasan Nazih in the post.[6][14]

Moinfar continued to serve as oil minister after the resignation of the interim government of Bazargan in November 1979. He also won a parliamentary seat in the 1980 general elections.[7] However, he was harshly criticized by the fundamentalists for removing 'only committed Muslims' rather than leftists from the ministry.[15] In the Majlis Moinfar was one of the supporters of Abolhassan Banisadr together with Mehdi Bazargan, Ebrahim Yazdi, Yadollah Sahabi and Ahmad Sadre.[16] Due to his support he also experienced attacks at the Majlis.[16] Moinfar's tenure as oil minister lasted until September 1980 when Mohammad Ali Rajai formed the cabinet.[17] Ashgar Ibrahimi was nominated to succeed Moinfar as oil minister.[17] However, Ibrahimi did not get necessary vote at the Majlis, and Mohammad Javad Tondguyan became the oil minister.[18]

Moinfar served as a parliament member until 1984. He was beaten by nearly ten conservative members of the parliament in 1983.[19] He ran for office in the elections in 1996, but his candidacy was rejected by the Guardian Council.[20]

Later years and death

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Moinfar never left Iran except to visit his children who lived overseas.[21] He was an honorary member of the European Association for Earthquake Engineering.[22]

Moinfar died on 2 January 2018 in Tehran, 12 days before his 90th birthday.[1][23]

References

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  1. ^ a b "تاریخ ایرانی - درگذشت معین‌فر؛ اولین وزیر نفت ایران". www.tarikhirani.ir (in Persian). Retrieved 3 January 2018.
  2. ^ a b Hossein Shahidi (2007). Journalism in Iran: From Mission to Profession. London; New York: Routledge. p. 143. ISBN 978-1-134-09391-5.
  3. ^ a b Takashi Oka (17 January 1980). "Japan agonizes over joining West against Iran, USSR". The Christian Science Monitor. Tokyo. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  4. ^ "Iranian oil officials threatened with purge". Edmonton Journal. 2 October 1979. Retrieved 15 February 2013.
  5. ^ Ali Ayoubi (2 February 2016), "مروری بر کارنامه انجمن اسلامی مهندسین", Shargh (in Persian), no. 2511, archived from the original on 29 November 2016, retrieved 28 November 2016
  6. ^ a b c d Shaul Bakhash (1982). The Politics of Oil and Revolution in Iran: A Staff Paper. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-8157-1776-8.
  7. ^ a b Bahman Baktiari (1996). Parliamentary Politics in Revolutionary Iran: The Institutionalization of Factional Politics. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida. p. 69. ISBN 978-0813014616.
  8. ^ Hossein Amirsadeghi, ed. (2012). "Revolution and Energy Policy in Iran". The Security of the Persian Gulf (RLE Iran A). Abingdon: Croom Helm. p. 264. ISBN 978-0-415-61050-6.
  9. ^ Barry Rubin (1980). Paved with Good Intentions (PDF). New York: Penguin Books. p. 283. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2013.
  10. ^ "Bani Sadr: US should admit Iran crimes". The Lewiston Daily Sun. 29 January 1980. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  11. ^ "Iran leader fires national oil firm head". St. Petersburg Times. London. AP. 29 September 1979. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  12. ^ Mir M. Hosseini. "5 February 1979 A.D.: Bazargan Becomes Prime Minister". Fouman. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
  13. ^ "Oil chief replaced". The Glasgow Herald. Tehran. 29 September 1979. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  14. ^ Dilip Hiro (1987). Iran Under the Ayatollahs. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 131. ISBN 978-0-7102-1123-1.
  15. ^ "The Economy according to Islam". New Internationalist. 1 September 1980. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  16. ^ a b Homa Omid (1994). Islam and the Post-Revolutionary State in Iran. London: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 97. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-23246-8_6. ISBN 978-1-349-23248-2. S2CID 156597356.
  17. ^ a b "Bani Sadr disowns most of long-awaited cabinet". The Glasgow Herald. 1 September 1980. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  18. ^ Nader Habibi (June 2014). "Can Rouhani Revitalize Iran's Oil and Gas Industry?". Middle East Brief (80): 4.
  19. ^ Reza Haghighat Nejad (19 August 2013). ""Put That Gun in Your Pocket!" The 10 Most Embarrassing Moments in Iran's Parliament". Iran Wire. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  20. ^ "Human Rights and Parliamentary Elections in the Islamic Republic of Iran". Human Rights Watch. 8 (1). March 1996.
  21. ^ Annabelle Sreberny-Mohammadi; Ali Mohammadi (January 1987). "Post-Revolutionary Iranian Exiles: A Study in Impotence". Third World Quarterly. 9 (1): 108–129. doi:10.1080/01436598708419964. JSTOR 3991849.
  22. ^ "Letter to Giorgio Napolitano" (PDF). The European Association for Earthquake Engineering. 14 November 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2013.
  23. ^ "Iran's First Petroleum Minister Ali Akbar Moinfar Dies at 90". Ilna. 2 January 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
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