Saeed Jalili

Saeed Jalili (born 6 September 1965) is an Iranian hardline principlist politician and diplomat, who was secretary of the Supreme National Security Council from 2007 to 2013. He is currently a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, and is the former nuclear negotiator for Iran. He was previously deputy foreign minister for European and American Affairs, and an unsuccessful candidate in the June 2013 presidential election, placing third. He also ran in 2021, but withdrew in favour of Ebrahim Raisi before the election. Jalili contested the 2024 presidential election but was defeated by Masoud Pezeshkian in a runoff election.

Jalili was a soldier in the Iran–Iraq War and had lost part of his right leg during the Siege of Basra. Upon this event, he earned the title of "Living Martyr". He holds a PhD in political science, and teaches the "Prophet's diplomacy" at the Imam Sadiq University. In 2009, Jalili was named as one of the 500 most influential people in the Muslim world.

Personal life and education
Jalili was born in 1965 in Mashhad, in northeastern Iran. His father, Mohammad Hasan Muallem, was the principal of Nawab Safavi Primary School in Mashhad. He married with Fatemeh Sajjadi, a doctor of internal medicine, in 1992. They have one child, a son named Sajjad. Jalili was a resident of Karaj until 2004. Vahid, Jalili's brother, is one of the fundamentalist cultural activists. Jalili is familiar with English and Arabic.

He holds a PhD in Political Science from Imam Sadeq University and his doctoral thesis entitled "The Paradigm (Foundation) of Political Thought of Islam in the Qu’ran" was later developed into a book by the name of "The Foreign Policy of the Prophet (Prophet Muhammad)." After graduating, he served in the Iran–Iraq War as a member of the Basij volunteers of the Revolutionary Guards. During the fighting, he was injured severely, losing the lower portion of his right leg in 1986. He has taught political science since 2000 in different intervals at Imam Sadeq University.

Career
Following the war, Jalili began working as a university lecturer at his alma mater. In 1989 Jalili began working at the ministry of foreign affairs in addition to his teaching post. From 1995 to 1996 he served as director of the inspection office at the ministry. In 2001, he was appointed senior director of policy planning in the office of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Jalili was also made a member of the Supreme National Security Council in 2002.

Following the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the presidency in August 2005, Jalili was appointed deputy foreign minister for European and American affairs. He was in office until October 2007. During the same period, he also served as an advisor to Ahmedinejad. On 20 October 2007, Jalili replaced Ali Larijani as secretary of the council and became responsible for international negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. Jalili's term as secretary of the council ended on 10 September 2013 when Ali Shamkhani was appointed to the post. Immediately after leaving the office, he was appointed by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to the Expediency Council as a member.

Activities and views
Jalili is a leading figure of the "neo-principalist" group in the Iranian political scene and a protégé of Mojtaba Khamenei. A 2008 leaked diplomatic cable described how a European Union official who met Jalili call him "a true product of the Iranian revolution." Mohammad Marandi, a professor at Tehran University, described Jalili as a tough negotiator who "believes strongly in Iran's nuclear program and its sovereign rights. He's not the sort of person to give major concessions."

In an interview with The Boston Globe in 2006, Jalili defended Iran's plans to develop nuclear energy, noting that, under the Shah and before the Iranian Revolution, US companies had contracts to build nuclear power plants in Iran.

"He was a true believer in the Iranian Revolution. He was constantly taking notes during the session, and at the same time had a wry smile on his face. Jalili and his colleagues looked at me many times and seemed to find the presence of America worrying. Then he started giving a 40-minute long speech and weaving unnecessary philosophy about the Iranian culture and history, as well as the constructive role it can play in the region. Jalili shockingly blurts out words when he wants to avoid a direct answer, and this was exactly one of those moments. He even mentioned that he is still teaches part-time at Tehran University. But, I was not at all jealous of his students. In the 1980s, he was wounded in the battle with the Iraqis, he had lost part of his right leg and was facing obvious problems in walking."

"We learned a lot about Iran's history and Iran's herds during the many hours we listened to Mr. Jalili's speeches. Unfortunately, little progress was made in the negotiations during that period. Since the summer of 2013, the negotiations have continued in a much more serious and professional manner, and very little time has been spent on speech objections, and most of the time has been spent on professional and informal business meetings. Jalili talked about the History of Islam and Iran, we learned a lot of history."

Ministry of Foreign Affairs


Jalili has 18 years of experience in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the age of 26, he was elected as the head of the Inspection Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and remained in the position until 1996. In 1997, he became the director of current investigations of the leadership office in the Mohammad Khatami's government, he later returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government and worked as the deputy foreign minister for European and American Affairs.

Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council
In 2006, Gholam-Hossein Elham, the spokesman of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government, announced the resignation of Ali Larijani and introduced Saeed Jalili as the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. After that, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, chose Jalili as his representative at the Supreme National Security Council in 2007. The peak and indicator of Jalili's activity in the Supreme National Security Council was his heading of the negotiations concerning Iran's development of nuclear technology. When Hassan Rouhani took office on August 2013, he dismissed Jalili and appointed Ali Shamkhani as the secretary of the council.

Member of the Expediency Discernment Council
As the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Jalili was a legal member of the Expediency Council. After being dismissed by Rouhani, Ali Khamenei appointed him again as a member of the council in 2013.

Member of the Foreign Relations Strategic Council
Khamenei appointed Saeed Jalili as a member of the Strategic Council of Foreign Relations in 2014. He is currently the head of this council.

2013 presidential candidacy
Jalili was a candidate in the 2013 presidential elections, announcing his candidacy on 22 March 2013. He was supported by Front of Islamic Revolution Stability and also by Kamran Bagheri Lankarani, the party's main candidate who declined his candidacy in favour of Jalili. His campaign slogan was "A Pleasant Life". He received 4,168,946 and was ranked third, behind president-elect Hassan Rouhani and runner up Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

Shadow Cabinet


In 2013, after his defeat in the presidential election, Jalili proposed a plan of the Shadow Cabinet to help the Hassan Rouhani government and compensate for its shortcomings. He has held several meetings to criticise the government and offer a solution. In early 2021, he met 19 members of parliament and explained a plan to reform the budget structure. They also took a petrochemical refinery development plan to the Larijani parliament (right-wing political opposition) and approved it, and the plan was communicated to the Rouhani government (left-wing political opposition) for implementation. Jalili explained the Shadow Cabinet is neither a party nor an organisation, but a Discourse and it means that everyone must follow the process of developments, shadow by shadow to have a positive impact on the path of the Islamic Revolution.

2021 presidential candidacy
Before the last day of registration for the presidential election, he was considered one of the most likely candidates. Although Jalili had said he would not register if Ebrahim Raisi entered the election, with the flood of members and supporters of the established government such as Jahangiri, Larijani, Shariatmadari, Akhundi and Hemmati, it is conflict that he registered in the election individually or to support Raisi.

2024 presidential candidacy
In May 2024, Jalili registered his candidacy for president in the 2024 presidential election. On 29 June, he secured 40.38% of the votes during the first round of the election, taking second place behind reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian, and thus qualifying for runoff. Jalili received support from unsuccessful candidate Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who placed third, as well as from Alireza Zakani and Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh, who had both previously dropped out.

Books

 * Foreign Policy of the Prophet of Islam
 * The Paradigm of Islamic Political Thought in Quran