Hassan Rouhani

He is married to Sahebeh Arabi, his cousin and the couple have three children.

His brother Hossein Fereydoun is also a politician and has held different positions including the governor of Karaj and Vice Minister of Intelligence.

He was born on November 12, 1948 as Hassan Fereydoun in Sorkheh in the Semnan Province, Iran, to Haj Asadollah Feridon and Sakineh Peivandi. He later altered his last name as Rouhani meaning community of clerics.

His father ran a business of spices in Sorkheh and politically opposed the Shah of Iran and faced several arrests ahead of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

His religious studies began in 1960 when he joined the ‘Semnan Seminary’.

In 1961 he joined the ‘Qom Seminary’. He was under the guidance of many noted Shia scholars including Mohammad Fazel Lankarani, Mohammad Mohaghegh Damad and Mohammad-Reza Golpaygani.

He travelled around the nation after 1965 and was outspoken in his views against the Shah and advocated for cleric Ruhollah Khomeini who was in exile. He faced several arrests and was debarred from giving public speeches.

In 1973 he joined military service in Nishapur.

In 1977 he had to flee from Iran. He went to Paris and after joining Ruhollah Khomeini he interacted with Iranian students groups around Europe.

He returned to Iran along with Ruhollah Khomeini post the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and joined hands in rebuilding the government and organizing the army and military bases.

In 1980 he became an elected member of the ‘Majlis’ (Parliament) of Iran. For the next two decades he held different positions in the ‘Majlis’. For the first two terms he remained the chief of the committee of Defense. In the fourth and fifth terms he served as the Deputy Speaker as well as the chief of the foreign policy committee.

From 1980-83 he headed the supervisory council of ‘Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting’.