Iran appoints ex-roads minister as head of nuclear agency

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has appointed a new director of the country’s nuclear department, state TV reported, replacing the nation’s most prominent nuclear scientist with a UN-sanctioned minister who has no reported experience in nuclear energy but ties to the Defense Ministry.

Raisi chose Mohammed Eslami, a 64-year-old civil engineer who previously oversaw the country’s road network, to lead Iran’s civilian nuclear program and serve as one of several vice presidents.

He succeeds Ali Akbar Salehi, a US-educated scientist who was a key player during the years of intense international diplomacy that led to Tehran’s now-tattered 2015 landmark nuclear deal with world powers.

The deal curbed Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief, but then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the agreement and reimposed crushing sanctions.

Iran, in response, has gradually and publicly abandoned all restrictions on its stockpiles of low-enriched uranium.

In 2008, when Eslami served as head of Iran’s Defense Industries Training and Research Institute, the UN sanctioned him for “being engaged in, directly associated with or providing support for Iran’s proliferation sensitive nuclear activities or for the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems.”

The UN linked the blacklisting to his “involvement in procurement of prohibited items, goods, equipment, materials and technology.”

During the tenure of former President Hassan Rouhani, Eslami served as Transport and Urban Development Minister.

Before joining the Cabinet in 2018, he worked for years in Iran’s military industries, most recently as deputy defense minister responsible for research and industry.