"A Transition in History"

Memories of the head of Atomic Energy Organization

Mohammad Ali Fatemi
Translated by Fazel Shirzad

2018-7-24

The eighth book of series "Oral History of the Foreign Policy of Islamic Republic of Iran" is named "A Transition in History: the memories of Dr. Ali Akbar Salehi". This book is compiled by Hassan Ali-Bakheshi in oral history unit of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Islamic Republic of Iran. This unit is active at the Department of Research and Studies at the Center of Political and International Studies. The memories of Dr. Ali Akbar Salehi, who is now the head of Iranian Atomic Energy Organization, was sent to bookstores by the Office of Publication in Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran's Islamic Republic in 1396(2017).

This 730-page book has the following sections: "Elementary and Secondary Education, Studying Abroad, Studying in the United States, Returning to Home, the Head of the Sharif University of Technology, Traveling to Argentina, Serving in Qazvin, Returning to Sharif University of Technology, Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Iran's Representatives in the International Energy Agency Atomic Energy, the Deputy of Islamic Conference Organization, the First Period as a Director of Atomic Energy Organization, the period of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Returning to Atomic Energy Organization, Various, Salehi from the Eyes of Close Associates." Below are the titles of these 16 sections that are featured in more details such as the days, individuals, places and important positions that the narrator encounters during his past years and has an important memory of them". The book "A Transition in History "begins with an introduction written by its compiler who was the head of the oral history department of Political and International Studies Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran's Islamic Republic. He states: "In total, the present book is the result of about 100 conversations with him (Dr. Ali Akbar Salehi)." The book's introduction is written by narrator who named and praised the people. The memoirs of some persons are mentioned in beginning of the book such as Dr. Mohammad Javad Zarif, Foreign Minister of Iran's Islamic Republic, Seyed Mohammad Kazem Sadjadpour, the head of Center of Political and International Studies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the late Ayatollah Hadi Barikbin, who had been Qazvin's Friday Prayer Imam for three decades. They wrote about the character of narrator and recommended to study his memoirs.

Since narrator was born in Karbala (1328 AD), spontaneously his first memoirs is about Iraq and his life in that country. After coming to Iran at the age of nine, these memories continued in Qazvin and then in Tehran. Education is part of main memoirs of that time and has details, such as the difference of education in Iraq and Iran in the perspective of the narrator, and then his travel to study abroad. The memories of studying in Lebanon and then in the United States, in relation to the time period of these days (from the mid-1981s to the mid-1971s), have considerable points concerning significant evidence of names and signs in the text; as the narrator returned to Iran during influential years (1977 and 1978) and reader found him during military service and teaching in university, and along with events leaded to the victory of the Islamic Revolution. One of these events, which the narrator narrated it directly, is the martyrdom of Professor Kamran Nejatollahi.

The Higher education of Dr. Ali Akbar Salehi was in the field of nuclear engineering; therefore, after the victory of Islamic Revolution, he cooperated with the Government of Iran's Islamic Republic in an academic environment. In addition to his professorship, he also experienced university's presidency, and his memories of this field have been started since 1360s and simultaneously the years of Iraq's imposed war against Iran, and well-known persons and developments of those years can be seen in all parts of memoirs; Like the years before Islamic Revolution, he studied abroad, there were well-known persons of war that can be seen in the memoirs of that period, and like the memories before and after these periods that Dr. Ali Akbar Salehi paid attention to developments completely. In this regard, because of the presence in governments of Iran's Islamic Republic, his memoirs are also considered as the memories of these states, and wherever his responsibility was required, he was directly connected with a crowd of people. It is seen in the memoirs how the type of this relationship was and especially what effects it has on the narrator. The memories of Iranian representative time in International Atomic Energy Agency, the Foreign Minister and the chairman of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization are also narrated in this memoirs. Because these days, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPA) is considered more than other issues, and the memoirs of Ali Akbar Salehi, the history of the process of this issue is involved inside and outside the country, this is a updated book in two sides: "On the one hand, the developments of JCPA are still ongoing.  And on the other hand, concerning the text of book the narrator, who is still in work, can be interviewed.

From another point of view and as stated in the text of book "A Transition in History" along with the memoirs, Dr. Ali Akbar Salehi's view in the field of his activities is also mentioned." In regard to these issues, if this narrations is read accurately, there are many points, especially about the political history of Iran's Islamic Republic over about past forty years. The narrator has paid them much attention, but scholars, as precise readers in the history of Iran's Islamic Republic, can be motivated to go on to work in the process of historiography both through the narrator, by referring again and through other narrators, based on available statements in the book "A Transition In history."