IRNA has published a brief biography of Ali Tayebnia, which says that Tayebnia, 64, served as Iran’s economy and finance minister from 2013 to 2017 under President Hassan Rouhani. He is an academic and has served in various state education institutions delivering courses on economy and finance.

He received his BA (1986) and MA (1989) in theoretical economics, and his PhD (1994) in economics, all from the University of Tehran and first in each class.

As part of Tayebnia’s doctoral studies, he spent a year studying at the London School of Economics under the supervision of Laurence Harris.

As an economist, Tayebnia was awarded the Lee Kuan Yew Prize in 2017, marking the first time an Iranian economist won the prestigious international prize.

Earlier, President Masoud Pezeshkian appointed Mohammad Javad Zarif, the former minister of foreign affairs, as his deputy for strategic affairs and the Presidential Center for Strategic Studies chief.

Serving as President Hassan Rouhani's foreign affairs minister from 2013 to 2021, he was Iran’s chief negotiator in the nuclear talks that led to the 2015 nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The agreement was endorsed by the UN Security Council Resolution 2231, but former U.S. President Donald Trump decided to withdraw the deal, imposing harsh unilateral sanctions on Iran under the name of maximum pressure.

President Pezeshkian, in another decree, appointed Mohammad Jafar Qaem Panah, an optometrist, as his deputy for executive affairs and chief of the presidential staff.