100 Notable alumni of
University of Tehran
Updated:
The University of Tehran is 83rd in the world, 13th in Asia, and 1st in Iran by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from the University of Tehran sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Hassan Rouhani
- Enrolled in the University of Tehran
- 1969-1972 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- writerlawyerinternational forum participantdiplomatpolitician
- Biography
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Hassan Rouhani is an Iranian Islamist politician who served as the seventh president of Iran from 2013 to 2021. He is also a sharia lawyer ("Wakil"), academic, former diplomat and Islamic cleric. He has been a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts since 1999. He was a member of the Expediency Council from 1991 to 2021, and also was a member of the Supreme National Security Council from 1989 to 2021. Rouhani was deputy speaker of the fourth and fifth terms of the Parliament of Iran (Majlis) and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council from 1989 to 2005. In the latter capacity, he was the country's top negotiator with the EU three, UK, France, and Germany, on nuclear technology in Iran, and has also served as a Shia mujtahid (a senior cleric), and economic trade negotiator.
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Abbas Kiarostami
- Occupations
- actordirectorgraphic designerfilm editorillustrator
- Biography
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Abbas Kiarostami was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, poet, photographer, and film producer. An active filmmaker from 1970, Kiarostami had been involved in the production of over forty films, including shorts and documentaries. Kiarostami attained critical acclaim for directing the Koker trilogy (1987–1994), Close-Up (1990), The Wind Will Carry Us (1999), and Taste of Cherry (1997), which was awarded the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival that year. In later works, Certified Copy (2010) and Like Someone in Love (2012), he filmed for the first time outside Iran: in Italy and Japan, respectively. His films Where Is the Friend's Home? (1987), Close-Up, and The Wind Will Carry Us were ranked among the 100 best foreign films in a 2018 critics' poll by BBC Culture. Close-Up was also ranked one of the 50 greatest movies of all time in the famous decennial Sight & Sound poll conducted in 2012.
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Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
- Occupations
- akhoondwriterpoliticianentrepreneur
- Biography
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Ali Akbar Hashemi Bahramani Rafsanjani was an Iranian politician and writer who served as the fourth president of Iran from 1989 to 1997. One of the founding fathers of the Islamic Republic, Rafsanjani was the head of the Assembly of Experts from 2007 until 2011 when he decided not to nominate himself for the post. He was also the chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council.
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Asghar Farhadi
- Occupations
- producerdirectorscreenwriter
- Biography
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Asghar Farhadi is an Iranian film director and screenwriter. He is considered one of the most prominent filmmakers of Iranian cinema as well as world cinema in the 21st century. His films have gained recognition for their focus on the human condition, and portrayals of intimate and challenging stories of internal family conflicts. In 2012, he was included on the annual Time 100 list of the most influential people in the world. That same year, he also received the Legion of Honour from France.
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Massoud Rajavi
- Occupations
- military leaderpartisancult leaderpolitician
- Biography
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Massoud Rajavi became the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) in 1979. In 1985, he married Maryam Rajavi, who became the co-leader of the MEK. After leaving Iran in 1981, he resided in France and Iraq. He disappeared shortly before the 2003 invasion of Iraq and it is not known whether he is still alive. This has left Maryam Rajavi as the public face of the MEK.
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Abulhassan Banisadr
- Occupations
- writerpoliticianessayisteconomistjournalist
- Biography
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Seyyed Abolhassan Banisadr was an Iranian politician, writer, and political dissident. He was the first president of Iran after the 1979 Iranian Revolution abolished the monarchy, serving from February 1980 until his impeachment by parliament in June 1981. Prior to his presidency, he was the minister of foreign affairs in the interim government. He had resided for many years in France where he co-founded the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
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Al Sayed Musa al-Sadr
- Occupations
- theologianakhoondpolitician
- Biography
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Musa Sadr al-Din al-Sadr was an Iranian-Lebanese Shia Muslim cleric and politician. In Lebanon, he founded and revived many Lebanese Shia organizations, including schools, charities, and the Amal Movement.
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Mostafa Chamran
- Occupations
- physicistpoliticianmilitary officer
- Biography
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Mostafa Chamran Save'ei was an Iranian physicist, politician, commander and guerrilla fighter who served as the first defense minister of post-revolutionary Iran and a member of parliament as well as the commander of paramilitary volunteers in Iran–Iraq War, known as "Irregular Warfare Headquarters". He was killed during the Iran–Iraq War. In Iran, he is known as a martyr and a symbol of an ideological and revolutionary Muslim who left academic careers and prestigious positions as a scientist and professor in the US, University of California, Berkeley and migrated in order to help the Islamic movements in Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt as a chief revolutionary guerilla, as well as in the Islamic revolution of Iran. He helped to found the Amal Movement in southern Lebanon.
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Lotfi A. Zadeh
- Occupations
- computer scientistuniversity teacherengineerprofessormathematician
- Biography
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Lotfi Aliasker Zadeh was a mathematician, computer scientist, electrical engineer, artificial intelligence researcher, and professor of computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. Zadeh is best known for proposing fuzzy mathematics, consisting of several fuzzy-related concepts: fuzzy sets, fuzzy logic, fuzzy algorithms, fuzzy semantics, fuzzy languages, fuzzy control, fuzzy systems, fuzzy probabilities, fuzzy events, and fuzzy information. Zadeh was a founding member of the Eurasian Academy.
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Mohsen Rezaee
- Occupations
- politicianmilitary leader
- Biography
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Mohsen Rezaee is an Iranian conservative politician affiliated with the Resistance Front of Islamic Iran and senior military officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who is currently a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, secretary of the Supreme Council for Economic Coordination, as well as the secretary of the Iranian government's Economic Committee. He was secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council from 1997 to 2021 and Vice President of Iran for Economic Affairs between 2021 and 2023.
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Parsa Pirouzfar
- Occupations
- paintertranslatoractorfilm directorplaywright
- Biography
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Parsa Pirouzfar is an Iranian actor, theatre director, painter, playwright and translator. He is best known for his acting in In the Eyes of the Wind (2009–2010) and Mum's Guest (2004). He has received various accolades, including an Iran Cinema Celebration Award, in addition to nominations for a Crystal Simorgh and three Hafez Awards.
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Atila Pesiani
- Occupations
- actorperforming artisttelevision actor
- Biography
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Atila Pesyani was an Iranian actor.
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Shirin Ebadi
- Occupations
- human rights activistwriterlawyerpoliticianwomen's rights activist
- Biography
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Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian Nobel laureate, lawyer, writer, teacher and a former judge and founder of the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran. In 2003, Ebadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her pioneering efforts for democracy and women's, children's, and refugee rights. She was the first Muslim woman and the first Iranian to receive the award.
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Mohammad Beheshti
- Occupations
- writerakhoondpoliticianjudgetheologian
- Biography
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Sayyed Mohammad Hosseini Beheshti was an Iranian jurist, philosopher, cleric and politician who was known as the second person in the political hierarchy of Iran after the Revolution. Beheshti is considered to have been the primary architect of Iran's post-revolution constitution, as well as the administrative structure of the Islamic republic. Beheshti is also known to have selected and trained several prominent politicians in the Islamic Republic, such as former presidents Hassan Rouhani and Mohammad Khatami, Ali Akbar Velayati, Mohammad Javad Larijani, Ali Fallahian, and Mostafa Pourmohammadi. Beheshti also served as the Secretary General of the Islamic Republic Party, and was the head of the Iranian judicial system. He further served as Chairman of the Council of Islamic Revolution, and the Assembly of Experts. Beheshti earned a PhD in philosophy, and was fluent in English, German and Arabic.
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Ali Larijani
- Occupations
- philosopherpolitician
- Biography
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Ali Ardeshir Larijani is an Iranian moderate politician, philosopher and former military officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, who served as the Speaker of the Parliament of Iran from 2008 to 2020. He is currently member of the Expediency Discernment Council.
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Jafar Panahi
- Occupations
- film editordirectorscreenwriteractorfilm producer
- Biography
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Jafar Panâhi is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film editor, commonly associated with the Iranian New Wave film movement. After several years of making short films and working as an assistant director for fellow Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, Panahi achieved international recognition with his feature film debut, The White Balloon (1995). The film won the Caméra d'Or at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, the first major award an Iranian film won at Cannes.
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Mohsen Tanabandeh
- Occupations
- film directortelevision actorscreenwriteractor
- Biography
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Mohsen Tanabandeh is an Iranian actor, director and screenwriter. In 2022, he won the Orizzonti Award for Best Actor at the 79th Venice International Film Festival for his performance in World War III (2022). He has received various accolades, including three Crystal Simorgh and four Hafez Awards.
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Ehsan Alikhani
- Occupations
- film directortelevision presentertelevision producerfilm producerpresenter
- Biography
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Ehsan Alikhani is an Iranian producer, television presenter, and director.
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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe
- Occupations
- public relations executivejournalistproject manager
- Biography
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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe is an Iranian-British dual citizen who was detained in Iran from 3 April 2016 as part of a long running dispute between Britain and Iran. In early September 2016, she was sentenced to five years in prison after being found guilty of plotting to topple the Iranian government. While in prison, she went on at least three hunger strikes trying to persuade Iranian authorities to provide medical treatment for her health problems. She was temporarily released on 17 March 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, but subject to electronic monitoring.
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Saeed AghaKhani
- Occupations
- film directorwriterscreenwriteractor
- Biography
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Saeed Aghakhani is an Iranian actor and director. He has received various accolades, including a Crystal Simorgh, two Iran's Film Critics and Writers Association Awards and a Duhok International Film Festival Award.
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Abdolkarim Soroush
- Occupations
- writerinternational forum participantuniversity teacherphilosopher
- Biography
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Abdolkarim Soroush, born Hossein Haj Faraj Dabbagh (born 16 December 1945; Persian: حسين حاج فرج دباغ), is an Iranian Islamic thinker, reformer, Rumi scholar, public intellectual, and a former professor of philosophy at the University of Tehran and Imam Khomeini International University. He is among the most influential figures in the religious intellectual movement of Iran. Soroush is currently a visiting scholar at the University of Maryland in College Park, Maryland. He was also affiliated with other institutions, including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, the Leiden-based International Institute as a visiting professor for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) and the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin. He was named by Time magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2005, and by Prospect magazine as one of the most influential intellectuals in the world in 2008. Soroush's ideas, founded on relativism, prompted both supporters and critics to compare his role in reforming Islam to that of Martin Luther in reforming Christianity.
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Mahmoud Hessabi
- Occupations
- physicistpoliticianacademic
- Biography
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Mahmoud Hessabi was an Iranian nuclear physicist and senator. He was the minister of education of Pahlavi Iran in the cabinet of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh from 1951 to 1952.
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Hamid Farrokhnezhad
- Enrolled in the University of Tehran
- Studied theatrical director
- Occupations
- actorfilm directorscreenwriter
- Biography
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Hamid Farrokhnezhad is an Iranian actor, writer, and director. He has received various accolades, including four Crystal Simorgh (two for acting), two Hafez Awards, three Iran Cinema Celebration Awards, and an Iran's Film Critics and Writers Association Award.
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Roya Nonahali
- Enrolled in the University of Tehran
- Graduated with bachelor's degree in painting
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Roya Nonahali is an Iranian actress and director. She studied painting, and has worked in theatre since 1984. Nonahali started film acting with The Beloved Is at Home (1987, by Khosrow Sinai). Then she was selected by Mohsen Makhmalbaf for Marriage of the Blessed and received a Crystal Simorgh for Best Actress from Fajr International Film Festival. Her performance in Smell of Camphor, Fragrance of Jasmine was awarded with the Best Supporting Actress award at the festival. She started acting in TV programs by Asleep & Awake in 2001. In 2019 she referee's in first Iranian Talent Show called Asre Jadid produced by Ehsan Alikhani.
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Bahram Bayzai
- Occupations
- screenwritertranslatorwriterfilm directortheatrical director
- Biography
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Bahrām Beyzāêi is an Iranian playwright, theatre director, screenwriter, film editor, and ostād ("master") of Persian letters, arts and Iranian studies.
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Ebrahim Golestan
- Occupations
- directorliterary criticphotographerfilm producertranslator
- Biography
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Ebrahim Taghavi Shirazi, known as Ebrahim Golestan, was an Iranian filmmaker and literary figure. Golestan was closely associated with Iranian poet Forough Farrokhzad, whom he met in his studio in 1958, until her death. He was said to have inspired her to live more independently. It could also be said that she inspired him in his artistic vision. He lived in Sussex, United Kingdom from 1975 until his death.
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Jaleh Sameti
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Zhaleh Sameti is an Iranian actress. She graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Tehran in the field of theater and began her professional career in 1994 with a role in "Det". When Did You See Sahar Last Time?? (2015) and Darkhongah (2018) has been nominated for Crystal Simorgh from Fajr Film Festival. She has also won the Hafez Award for Home and Underground TV Series (2020–present). Sameti has been a judge in the Asre Jadid television competition since 2022.
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Hadi Hejazifar
- Enrolled in the University of Tehran
- Graduated with bachelor's degree in puppetry
- Occupations
- actorfilm directorscreenwriter
- Biography
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Hadi Hejazifar is an Iranian actor, director and screenwriter. He gained attention and received critical acclaim for his performances in films Standing in the Dust (2016), Midday Adventures (2017), Atabai (2020) and Majority (2021). He has received various accolades, including a Crystal Simorgh, a Hafez Award, an Urban International Film Festival Award and two Iran's Film Critics and Writers Association Awards.
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Mohammad Ali Jafari
- Occupations
- politicianmilitary personnel
- Biography
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Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari is a retired Iranian military officer and former commander-in-chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from 2007 to 2019. He was appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on 1 September 2007, succeeding Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi.
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Hossein Elahi Ghomshei
- Occupations
- writermystictranslatorliteraryphilosopher
- Biography
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Hossein Mohyeddin Ghomshei better known as Elahi Ghomshei (الهی قمشهای), is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, author, and lecturer on literature, art, and mysticism.
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Simin Daneshvar
- Occupations
- writernovelistuniversity teachertranslatorlinguist
- Biography
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Simin Dāneshvar was an Iranian academic, novelist, fiction writer, and translator.
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Ebrahim Yazdi
- Occupations
- pharmacistpoliticianactivist
- Biography
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Ebrahim Yazdi was an Iranian politician, pharmacist, and diplomat who served as deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs in the interim government of Mehdi Bazargan, until his resignation in November 1979, in protest at the Iran hostage crisis. From 1995 until 2017, he headed the Freedom Movement of Iran. Yazdi was also a trained cancer researcher.
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Amin Tarokh
- Occupations
- television actoractor
- Biography
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Amin Tarokh was an Iranian actor. He has received various accolades, including a Crystal Simorgh, a Hafez Award. He also used to teach acting and was the teacher of famous actors like Taraneh Alidoosti, Gelareh Abbasi, Shabnam Moghaddami, Navid Pourfaraj, Pouria Rahimisam, Majid Vasheghani, Hedieh Bazvand and more.
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Mehraveh Sharifinia
- Enrolled in the University of Tehran
- Graduated with bachelor's degree in music
- Occupations
- film actoractor
- Biography
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Mahraveh Sharifinia is an Iranian film and television actress. She has a Diploma in Mathematics (Physics) and has studied music education at the University of Art in Tehran. She is the daughter of Mohammadreza Sharifinia and Azita Hajian. Mehraveh Sharifinia attended a semester studying film directing, but after consulting with her father withdrew from the study in this field. She is trained in the piano as her specialised musical instrument.
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Mehdi Hashemi
- Occupations
- film directorscreenwriteractordirector
- Biography
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Mehdi Hashemi is an Iranian actor, screenwriter, and director.
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Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel
- Occupations
- faculty membertranslatorwriterphysicistpolitician
- Biography
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Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel is an Iranian philosopher, conservative and principlist politician and former chairman of the Parliament. He is currently member of the Expediency Discernment Council.
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Nechervan Idris Barzani
- Enrolled in the University of Tehran
- Studied political science
- Occupations
- international forum participantpolitician
- Biography
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Nechirvan Idris Barzani is a Kurdish politician serving as the second President of Kurdistan Region, Iraq. He was elected into office by the Kurdistan Region Parliament in June 2019. Nechirvan Barzani was appointed as Vice President of the Kurdistan Democratic Party since 2010. He previously served as Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government from March 2007 to August 2009 and March 2012 to May 2019. Nechirvan Barzani is also the founder of the University Of Kurdistan Hewlêr, the region's top ranking university located in Erbil. His rule combines aspects of Kurdish nationalism, national conservatism, economic liberalism, modernism and reforms, reforms in agriculture and women's rights.
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Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda
- Occupations
- literarytranslatorwriterlinguistjournalist
- Biography
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Allameh Ali-Akbar Dehkhodā was a prominent Iranian literary writer, philologist, and lexicographer. He was the author of the Dehkhoda Dictionary, the most extensive dictionary of the Persian language published to date.
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Noor Ali Tabandeh
- Occupations
- Muslimummahlawyer
- Biography
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Noor-Ali Tabandeh was the spiritual leader or Qutb of the Ni'matullah (Sultan Ali Shahi) Gonabadi Order in Iran (Gonabadi Dervishes), which is the largest Sufi order in Iran. He was born in Beydokht, Gonabad, Iran and died in Mehr Hospital in Tehran on 24 December 2019 after two years of house arrest.
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Ahmad Kazemi
- Occupations
- military leader
- Biography
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Ahmad Kazemi was an Iranian commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and one of the most notable commanders in the Iran–Iraq War.
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Alireza Zakani
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Alireza Zakani is an Iranian conservative politician, current mayor of Tehran since 2021 and Aide to the president of Iran in affairs of management of social damages in Tehran city since 2023.
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Aydin Aghdashloo
- Occupations
- graphic designerpainterwriter
- Biography
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Aydin Aghdashloo is an Iranian painter, graphist, art curator, writer, and film critic.
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Ali Akbar Velayati
- Occupations
- physicianpolitician
- Biography
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Ali Akbar Velayati is an Iranian conservative politician and physician. He is currently a member of the Expediency Discernment Council. Velayati is a distinguished professor at Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, senior adviser to the Supreme Leader in international affairs and head of the board of founders and the board of trustees of the Islamic Azad University.
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Mehdi Karroubi
- Occupations
- politicianentrepreneurbusinessperson
- Biography
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Mehdi Karroubi is an Iranian Shia cleric and reformist politician leading the National Trust Party. Following 2009–2010 Iranian election protests, Karroubi was put under house arrest in February 2011 – reportedly ordered by the Supreme Leader of Iran – without officially being charged, although he is accused of being a "seditionist" and "traitor". As of 2021, he is still confined to his house.
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Abdolhossein Zarrinkoob
- Occupations
- literarytranslatorwriterliterary critichistorian
- Biography
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Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub was a scholar and professor of Iranian literature, history of literature, Persian culture and history.
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Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i
- Occupations
- religious servantpoliticianjudge
- Biography
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Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i is an Iranian conservative politician, Islamic jurist and prosecutor who currently serves as Chief Justice of Iran.
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Ali Mosaffa
- Occupations
- actorfilm directorscreenwriter
- Biography
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Ali Mosaffa is an Iranian actor and filmmaker.
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Mohammad Khamenei
- Occupations
- academic
- Biography
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Sayyid Mohammad Khamenei is an Iranian cleric and politician. He is the older brother of Ali Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader of Iran, and Hadi Khamenei. Currently, he is the president of Iranology Foundation, and Sadra Islamic Wisdom Foundation, he is a professor at Allameh Tabataba'i University, School of International Relations and Al-Zahra University. He was also one of the compilers of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran and a member for the Islamic Consultative Assembly representing Mashhad.
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Pantea Bahram
- Enrolled in the University of Tehran
- 1992-1996 graduated with bachelor's degree in screenwriting
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Pantea Bahram is an Iranian actress. She has received various accolades, including a Crystal Simorgh and an Iran Cinema Celebration Award, in addition to nominations for six Hafez Awards and four Iran's Film Critics and Writers Association Awards.
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Majid Salehi
- Occupations
- writertelevision actorfilm directoractorfilm producer
- Biography
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Majid Salehi is an Iranian actor, screenwriter and producer. He has received various accolades, including a Crystal Simorgh and a Hafez Award, in addition to nominations for four Hafez Awards, an Iran Cinema Celebration Award and an Iran's Film Critics and Writers Association Award.
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Susan Taslimi
- Occupations
- stage actorfilm producertheatrical directorscreenwriterdirector
- Biography
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Susan Taslimi is an Iranian actress, film director, theatre director, and screenwriter. She emigrated from Iran in 1987, now living and working in Sweden.
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Abdul-Nasser Hemmati
- Occupations
- economist
- Biography
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Abdolnaser Hemmati is an Iranian academic, politician, and economist who served as the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran from 2018 to 2021. He was previously vice president of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (1989–1994), and governor of the Central Insurance of Iran (1994–2006; 2016–2018). He ran as a candidate in the 2021 Iranian presidential election, being the sole representative from the moderate wing of Iranian politicians, and was placed third overall in the results.
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Hossein Fatemi
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Hossein Fatemi was an Iranian scholar. A close associate of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, he proposed nationalization of Iranian oil and gas assets. Initially a journalist, he served as minister of foreign affairs from 1951 to 1953. After the 1953 coup d'état toppled the government of Mosaddegh, Fatemi was arrested, tortured, and convicted by a military court of "treason against the Shah", and executed by a firing squad.
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Mehdi Soltani
- Occupations
- actorsingerfilm director
- Biography
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Mehdi Soltani or Mehdi Soltani Sarvestani is an Iranian actor born on 23 August 1971 in Shiraz, Iran.
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Iraj Tahmasb
- Enrolled in the University of Tehran
- Graduated with bachelor's degree in theatre
- Occupations
- writerpresenteractortelevision presenterfilm director
- Biography
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Iraj Tahmasb is an Iranian actor, screenwriter, and director of TV series and films. He is best known for co-creating of popular puppet character, Kolah Ghermezi.
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Abbas Amir-Entezam
- Occupations
- politiciandiplomat
- Biography
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Abbas Amir-Entezam was an Iranian politician who served as deputy prime minister in the Interim Cabinet of Mehdi Bazargan in 1979. In 1981 he was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of spying for the U.S., a charge critics suggest was a cover for retaliation against his early opposition to theocratic government in Iran. He was "the longest-held political prisoner in the Islamic Republic of Iran". According to Fariba Amini, as of 2006, he had "been in jail for 17 years." In July 2018, he died while serving his life sentence, serving more than 38 years as a political prisoner.
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Farimah Farjami
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Farimah Farjami was an Iranian actress. She received various accolades, including a Crystal Simorgh for The Last Act (1991). Her acting in films, especially in independent women's dramas, was repeatedly praised by critics. She was often referred to as one of the leading actors of her generation.
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Saeed Hajjarian
- Occupations
- writerjournalist
- Biography
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Saeed Hajjarian is an Iranian reformist political strategist, journalist, pro-democracy activist and former intelligence officer. He was a member of Tehran's city council, and advisor to the president Mohammad Khatami. On 12 March 2000, he was shot in the face by an assailant and severely disabled, an act many Iranians believe was in retaliation for his help in uncovering the chain murders of Iran and his significant help to the Iranian reform movement in general, according to the BBC.
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Azita Hajian
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Azita Hajian is an Iranian actress.
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Mina Sadati
- Enrolled in the University of Tehran
- Graduated with bachelor's degree in graphics
- Occupations
- film actoractor
- Biography
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Mina Sadati is an Iranian actress. She is best known for her role as Leila in Loneliness of Leila (2015).
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Abbas Maroufi
- Occupations
- novelistwriterplaywrightjournalistteacher
- Biography
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Abbas Maroufi was an Iranian novelist and journalist. His most famous novel is Symphony of the Dead.
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Hossein Amirabdollahian
- Enrolled in the University of Tehran
- Graduated with master's degree
- Occupations
- politiciandiplomat
- Biography
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Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is an Iranian politician, diplomat and current foreign minister of Iran. He was formerly the deputy foreign minister for Arab and African Affairs from 2011 to 2016.
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Farrokhroo Parsa
- Occupations
- physicianpolitician
- Biography
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Farrokhroo Parsa was an Iranian physician, educator, and parliamentarian.
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Parviz Sayyad
- Occupations
- film producerplaywrightwriterscreenwriterdirector
- Biography
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Parviz Sayyad is an Iranian-born American celebrated actor, director, translator, and screenwriter of Iranian cinema. He was one of the earliest television stars in Iran.
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Mohammad-Javad Bahonar
- Occupations
- politicianteacher
- Biography
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Mohammad-Javad Bahonar was a Shia Iranian theologian and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Iran for less than one month in August 1981. Bahonar and other members of Mohammad-Ali Rajai's government were assassinated by Mujahideen-e Khalq.
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Simin Behbahani
- Occupations
- poetsongwriterwriterlyricist
- Biography
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Simin Behbahani, her surname also appears as Bihbahani was a prominent Iranian contemporary poet, lyricist and activist. She is known for her poems in a ghazal-style of poetic form. She was an icon of modern Persian poetry, Iranian intelligentsia and literati who affectionately refer to her as the lioness of Iran. She was nominated twice for the Nobel Prize in literature, and "received many literary accolades around the world."
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Parviz Sabeti
- Occupations
- intelligence officer
- Biography
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Parviz Sabeti is an Iranian lawyer, former SAVAK top deputy under the regime of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. He was in charge of SAVAK’s second division which was called “Surveillance and Pursuit” dept. the division of SAVAK that was mainly responsible for interrogating individuals. Born in Sang-e Sar, Semnan Province. Sabeti received a law degree from the University of Tehran and joined the SAVAK, Iran's intelligence agency in Shah's regime, in 1957, and quickly rose to become the acting director of the SAVAK's so-called third division, the Division of Surveillance and Pursuit, and later became its director.
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Mohammad Esfahani
- Occupations
- singerphysiciancomposer
- Biography
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Mohammad Mahdi Vaezi Esfahani, better known as Mohammad Esfahani, is an Iranian Persian pop and traditional singer. He graduated from The Medical Sciences University of Iran in 1997, while learning Iranian music from the famous Iranian traditional singer Mohammad-Reza Shajarian and his best student Ali Jahandar.
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Saeed Poorsamimi
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Saeed Poursamimi is an Iranian actor. He has received various accolades, including three Crystal Simorgh for Best Supporting Actor, making him the only actor to have three wins in that category and two Hafez Awards. He is best known as the master of supporting roles in Iran.
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Mahaya Petrosian
- Enrolled in the University of Tehran
- Graduated with bachelor's degree in theatre
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Mahaya Petrosian is an Iranian actress of Armenian descent. She is also a director, A Beautiful Snowy Day being her first movie as director.
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Jamshid Amouzegar
- Occupations
- ministerpoliticianeconomist
- Biography
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Jamshid Amouzegar was an Iranian economist and politician who was prime minister of Iran from 7 August 1977 to 27 August 1978 when he resigned. Prior to that, he served as the minister of interior and minister of finance in the cabinet of Amir-Abbas Hoveida. He was the leader of Rastakhiz Party during his tenure as prime minister of Iran.
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Akbar Ganji
- Occupations
- journalistwriteressayist
- Biography
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Akbar Ganji is an Iranian journalist, writer and a former member of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He has been described as "Iran's preeminent political dissident", and a "wildly popular pro-democracy journalist" who has crossed press censorship "red lines" regularly. A supporter of the Islamic revolution as a youth, he became disenchanted in the mid-1990s and served time in Tehran's Evin Prison from 2001 to 2006, after publishing a series of stories on the murder of dissident authors known as the Chain Murders of Iran. While in prison, he issued a manifesto which established him as the first "prominent dissident, believing Muslim and former revolutionary" to call for a replacement of Iran's theocratic system with "a democracy". He has been described as "Iran's best-known political prisoner".
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Hassan Ali Mansur
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Hasan Ali Mansur was an Iranian politician who served as Prime Minister from 1964 to 1965. He served during the White Revolution of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and was assassinated by a member of the Fada'iyan-e Islam.
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Marzieh Boroumand
- Occupations
- actorpuppeteerfilm director
- Biography
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Marzieh Boroumand is an film director, Actress, screenwriter and puppeteer of TV series and films. She is best known for Alo!Alo! Man joojoo-am (1994), Barbershop Ziba (1989) and City of Mice (1985). She began her career in cinema by playing in The Cycle directed by Dariush Mehrjui.
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Caucher Birkar
- Occupations
- mathematician
- Biography
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Caucher Birkar is an Iranian Kurdish mathematician and a professor at Tsinghua University and at the University of Cambridge.
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Hossein Dehghan
- Occupations
- military personnelpoliticianengineer
- Biography
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Hossein Dehghani Poudeh, commonly known as Hossein Dehghan, is an Iranian military officer and former IRGC Air Force officer with the rank of brigadier general. He is currently head of the Mostazafan Foundation since 2023.
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Gholam Ali Rasheed
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Major general Gholam Ali Rashid is an Iranian military commander who is the commander of Khatam-al Anbiya Central Headquarter and former deputy chief of the General Staff of Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran who was among decision-making commanders in the Iran–Iraq War. He along with Mohammad Ali Ja'fari, Ali Fadavi, Qasem Soleimani, and Mohammad Bagheri was the member of command network in the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
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Mohammad-Reza Lotfi
- Occupations
- recording artistcomposerconductor
- Biography
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Mohammad-Reza Lotfi was an Iranian classical musician renowned for his mastery of the tar and setar. He collaborated with singers such as Mohammad-Rezā Shajarian, Hengameh Akhavan, Shahram Nazeri and Alireza Shahmohammadi.
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Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani
- Occupations
- politicianentrepreneur
- Biography
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Mehdi Hashemi Rafsanjani is an Iranian businessman and the fourth child of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former president of Iran. He is known as an Iranian "Aghazadeh".
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Jafar Sharif-Emami
- Occupations
- politicianengineerrailway engineer
- Biography
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Jafar Sharif-Imami was an Iranian politician who was prime minister from 1960 to 1961 and again in 1978. He was a cabinet minister, president of the Iranian Senate, president of the Pahlavi Foundation and the president of the Iran chamber of industries and mines during the reign of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
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Rakhshan Bani-E'temad
- Occupations
- film producerfilm directorscreenwriter
- Biography
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Rakhshān Banietemad is an internationally and critically acclaimed Iranian film director and screenwriter who is widely considered a premier female director and her films have been praised at international festivals as well as being popular with Iranian critics and audiences. Her title as "First Lady of Iranian Cinema" is not only a reference to her prominence as a filmmaker, but also connotes her social role of merging politics and family in her work. Her signature style is that she focuses on a character representing a part of society to explore it while staying objectively neutral. The first period of Banietemad's cinematic activity originates from dark humor. Still, in the second period of her work, dark humor gives way to serious and influential films, and deeper and broader issues are addressed. Banietemad has a more realistic view of life.
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Bijan Namdar Zangeneh
- Occupations
- politicianbusinesspersonengineer
- Biography
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Bijan Namdar Zangeneh is an Iranian politician, who served as minister, at different cabinets after the Islamic Revolution, for 30 years. He lately served as Minister of Petroleum from 2013 to 2021 in the cabinet led by Hassan Rouhani.
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Javad Hashemi
- Occupations
- presentercomposerwriterscreenwriteractor
- Biography
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Javad Hashemipour Asl is an Iranian actor, film director, writer and composer.
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Ghazaleh Alizadeh
- Occupations
- novelistwriterpoet
- Biography
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Ghazaleh Alizadeh; 15 February 1949 – 12 May 1996) was an Iranian poet and writer. Her mother was also a poet and writer. She married twice; she and her husband Bijan Elahi had a daughter called Salma. She also adopted two girls who were survivors of the 1961 Qazvin earthquake.
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Nasser Taghvai
- Occupations
- writerfilm directordirectorscreenwriterphotographer
- Biography
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Nasser Taghvai is an Iranian film director and screenwriter.
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Mohammad-Reza Aref
- Occupations
- university teacherpoliticianengineer
- Biography
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Mohammad Reza Aref is an Iranian engineer, academic and reformist politician who was the parliamentary leader of reformists' Hope fraction in the Iranian Parliament, representing Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr. Aref has also been heading the Reformists' Supreme Council for Policymaking since its establishment in 2015. He is currently member of the Expediency Discernment Council.
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Hossein Alizadeh
- Occupations
- musicologistcomposermusicianteacher
- Biography
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Hossein Alizadeh is an Iranian musician, composer, radif-preserver, researcher, teacher, and tar, shurangiz and setar instrumentalist and improviser. He has performed with such musicians as Shahram Nazeri, Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, Alireza Eftekhari and Jivan Gasparyan, as well as with a number of orchestras and ensembles.
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Payam Dehkordi
- Enrolled in the University of Tehran
- Graduated with master's degree in theatre
- Occupations
- film directoractor
- Biography
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Payam Naderi Dehkordi is an Iranian actor and theater director. He is best known for his role as Michael Hashemian in Gando (2019–2021).
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Ali Motahari
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Ali Motahhari is an Iranian politician who is known as a conservative and is also named as a sort of conservative reformist, who represented Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr electoral district in the Parliament of Iran from 2008 to 2020. He was Second Deputy of the Parliament of Iran from 2016 until 2019.
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Kambuzia Partovi
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm director
- Biography
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Kambuzia Partovi was an Iranian film director and screenwriter.
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Faramarz Sedighi
- Enrolled in the University of Tehran
- In 1967 graduated with bachelor's degree in theatre
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Faramarz Sedighi is an Iranian actor and assistant director. He is a theater graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran. Seddighi started his professional career in 1969 with acting in "Rostam and Sohrab" theaters. He experienced his cinematic activity in 1972 with his role in the film "Cheshmeh" (Fountain) directed by Arbi Evansian. He became famous with his film "Naked to Noon with Speed" (1972) and his outstanding works include Snake Fang (1989) and "Blade and Silk" (1985).
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Mohammad Hejazi
- Occupations
- politicianmilitary personnel
- Biography
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Mohammad Hossein-Zadeh Hejazi was an Iranian military commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
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Mohammad Kassebi
- Occupations
- screenwriteractor
- Biography
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Mohamad Kasebi is an Iranian actor and film director.
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Mostafa Tajzadeh
- Occupations
- politicianpolitical punditactivist
- Biography
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Sayyid Mostafa Tajzadeh is an Iranian reformist politician and a senior member of Islamic Iran Participation Front, as well as Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution of Iran Organization.
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Abbas Ahmad Akhondi
- Occupations
- politicianengineereconomist
- Biography
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Abbas Ahmad Akhoundi is an Iranian politician and academic and former Minister of Roads and Urban Development, from 2013 to 2018. In 1993, Akhoundi became the Minister of Housing and Urban Development, making him one of the youngest ministers in Iran's modern history until Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi's appointment in 2017.
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Ali Amini
- Occupations
- politiciandiplomat
- Biography
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Ali Amini was an Iranian politician who was the Prime Minister of Iran from 1961 to 1962. He held several cabinet portfolios during the 1950s, and served as a member of parliament between 1947 and 1949.
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Zahra Rahnavard
- Occupations
- politicianuniversity teacheressayistsculptorjournalist
- Biography
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Zahra Rahnavard is an Iranian academic, artist and politician. Rahnavard is a university professor, artist, and intellectual who was under house arrest from February 2011 to May 2018. In 2009, Foreign Policy magazine named her one of the world's most distinguished thinkers. She is the wife of former Iran Prime Minister Mir Hussein Musavi. In part of her work, she has underlined the need for men to respect the laws of the hijab in the same way as women, as well as a general activist for women's rights in the Middle East.
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Gholamhossein Ebrahimi Dinani
- Occupations
- philosopher
- Biography
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Gholam-hossein Ebrahimi Dinani is an Iranian philosopher. He is best known for his research and writings about illuminationism and Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi. The three-time winner of Book of the Year award in Iran, Dinani is a professor emeritus at the University of Tehran, and lectures at Tarbiat Modares University and Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Moreover, his public lectures at Institute for Research in Philosophy attract a diverse audience from students and scholars of theology and philosophy in general.
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Hamid-Reza Sadr
- Occupations
- writerfilm criticuniversity teachertranslatorjournalist
- Biography
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Hamid Reza Sadr was an Iranian football and film critic, journalist, author, university professor, historian, and economist. Sadr earned a Ph.D. in urban planning after studying at both the University of Tehran and the University of Leeds in England. He was well known for his publications on various subjects such as football, cinema, and non-fiction based on history and social studies.
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Davood Mir-Bagheri
- Occupations
- film producerfilm directorscreenwriter
- Biography
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Sayyid Davood Mir-Bagheri is an Iranian director, writer, and film producer. His notable works are Shaheed-e Kufa, Mokhtarnameh, and Salman the Persian.
