Manouchehr Mottaki (; born 12 May 1953) is an Iranian politician and diplomat. He was the Iranian minister of foreign affairs. Whilst technically appointed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he is considered to be closer to more pragmatic conservative factions and during the 2005 presidential election, he was the campaign manager of Ali Larijani, the conservative candidate. He was also a presidential candidate in the 2013 presidential election, but withdrew before the polling began. It was rumored that his nomination was rejected by Guardian Council, which he denied. Early life and education Mottaki was born in Bandar-e-gaz County in 1953 and went to school there. After graduation, he joined the army and as national plan joined the public education program by that day which was conducted by the government. He went to Khorasan province and established a school in a poor village around Mashhad and taught there. After his service in the army, since he was interested in social and political issues, he decided to travel abroad both for experience and study. By that time many Iranians travelled to India, which was seen as a popular academic destination. So he traveled there for a few years before the Iranian Revolution. Mottaki earned a bachelor's degree from Bangalore University in India in 1977. He also holds a master's degree in international relations that he received from the University of Tehran Career After the revolution, Mottaki was elected as the first parliament representative and assigned by other representatives as the head of the national security and foreign policy committee due to his politic and diplomatic talents. During his years in Majlis (Congress) and effective collaboration with the foreign ministry, he was employed by the ministry after parliament. He served as the member of parliament in the first Majlis, head of the 7th political bureau of foreign ministry (1984), Iran's ambassador to Turkey (1985), ministry's secretary general for Western European affairs (1989), deputy foreign minister for international affairs (1989) and deputy foreign minister for legal, consular and parliamentary affairs (1992). He was also Iran's ambassador to Japan (1994), advisor to foreign minister (1999), deputy head of culture and Islamic communications organization (2001) and head of foreign relations committee of the 7th Majlis national security and foreign policy commission. He then developed within the ministry during 24 years of continuous presence in different positions. On 24 August 2005, Mottaki was appointed foreign minister after the Majlis