Rouhani's US-Educated Chief of Staff Knows East and West
Hassan Rouhani's chief of staff is a US-educated technocrat who is close to Iran's religious and merchant classes.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s first executive decree was to appoint Mohammad Nahavandian as his chief of staff. An economist by training, Nahavandian is a seasoned technocrat who has served his country as a senior bureaucrat for decades. His appointment indicates Rouhani’s commitment to improving the country’s weak economy.
Nahavandian is perhaps a model politician for Rouhani’s government of “wisdom and hope” — a moderate, religious-minded veteran technocrat, who, though educated abroad, is loyal to the aspirations of the Islamic Republic.
Rouhani recognizes that, as a Western-educated economist and someone with strong ties to the traditional bazaari class, Nahavandian brings him a set of unique skills. Having been trained both in Iran’s seminaries and Western universities, Nahavandian is a well-rounded and knowledgeable individual ready to tackle the many complex issues faced by the new administration.
Born to a religious family, Nahavandian attended the Alavi Institute, an Islamic high school founded in the late 1950s against the backdrop of a burgeoning divide between the religious associations and more secular political groups such as the National Front. The Alavi Institute has long been a breeding ground for religious-minded politicians, scholars and technocrats. Some of its well-known graduates include Kamal Kharazi, former foreign minister; Mehdi Khazali, an influential political writer and son of a former Guardian Council member; and prominent Iranian philosopher AbdolKarim Soroush.
