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Biography: Mir-Hossein Mousavi

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•    Present: President of the Iranian Academy of Arts

•    October 31, 1981 – August 3, 1989: Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran (position of Prime Minister abolished by Constitution)

•    1983: received specialization in traditional Islamic architecture, MA from National University of Tehran in 1969 (now Shahid Beheshti University)

•    Born September 29, 1941, Khameneh, Iran
•    Married to Zahra Rahnavard



Mousavi was the last Prime Minister in Iran before the constitutional changes which removed the post of prime minister in 1989.

Mousavi is well remembered by many Iranians for managing the country during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988) and for his very effective steering of the country out of an economic recession.

After 20 years of political silence, on 9 March 2009 Mousavi announced his bid to run in the 2009 Iranian presidential election, which has since been welcomed by many Iranians who still recall his time as Prime Minister.


Iranian reformers, who favor improving Iran's ties with the West and loosening social restrictions at home, view Mousavi as a viable challenge the current conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; they believe that the latter has lost popularity even among conservatives because of his perceived mishandling of the economy, his limiting of the civil liberties and his perilous steering of Iran's foreign policy; some Iranians believe that his uncompromising anti-US and anti-Israel rhetoric have increased Iran's isolation and damaged Iran's standing in the world.


Mousavi has directly addressed activating foreign policy to boost national interest by reducing tensions with other nations. This includes negotiating with U.S. President Barack Obama if "his actions are in keeping with his words". His other notable assertions were when he called Ahmadinejad's approach to the issue of Holocaust a wrong one. Mousavi condemned the killing of Jews in the Holocaust, a much different stance than Ahmadinejad.

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