Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel (Persian: غلامعلی حداد عادل; born 9 May 1945) is an Iranian politician and former chairman of the Parliament. Haddad-Adel is a member of the Expediency Discernment Council. He was the first non-cleric in the post since the Iranian Revolution of 1979. He was one of the candidates in the 2013 presidential election but withdrew on 10 June, four days before the election. He is part of "neo-principilist" group in the Iranian political scene.
Early life and education Haddad-Adel was born in Tehran on 9 May 1945 into a business family. He received a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Tehran and also, a master's degree in physics from University of Shiraz. He also holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Tehran which he received in 1975. He studied Islamic philosophy under Morteza Motahhari and also under Sayyed Hossein Nasr, a noted critic of Marxism.
Career Following the Iranian Revolution Haddad-Adel became a member of the Islamic Republic Party and he served in many governmental posts, including deputy culture and Islamic guidance minister (1979) and deputy education minister (1982–1993). Since 1995 he has been serving as the head of the Iranian Academy of Persian Language and Literature (except for August 2004 – 2008). He is also the executive director of the Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation. He contributed to the establishment of the national Scientific Olympiads in Iran. Haddad-Adel served at the Majlis for thirteen years, over four terms. He officially ranked as the 33rd candidate of Tehran in the 2000 parliamentary election after recounts by the Council of Guardians which led to an annulment of 700,000 Tehrani votes and the removal of Alireza Rajaei and Ali Akbar Rahmani from the top 30, and the withdrawal of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Haddad-Adel collected the most votes from Tehran four years later, while most Tehranis refused to vote in 2004 election because many reformist candidates where not allowed to run. He was supported by the Abadgaran alliance and became the Speaker of Parliament for one year beginning 6 June 2004, with 226 votes out of 259, running unopposed. He became the first non-clerical speaker since the revolution. From 2008 to 2026, he served as an advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. In 2012, he ran for the Majlis speakership, but lost the bid. He is also a member of the High Council of Cultural Revolution and the Expediency Discernment Council.
Speaker of Parliament As the speaker of Parliament, Haddad-Adel condemned the bombings of the al-Askari Shrine in 2006 and 2007. He added that Islamic countries must promote solidarity through guaranteeing unity and security against common enemies. In January 2008 Haddad-Adel visited Cairo for talks with then-President Hosni Mubarak, making him the first senior Iranian parliamentary official to conduct high-level talks with Egyptian counterparts after the Islamic revolution.
Presidential candidacy
In October 2012 Haddad-Adel formed a coalition named 2+1 together with Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Ali Akbar Velayati in October 2012, ahead of the upcoming presidential election. He withdrew his candidacy a few days before the election, and said in a statement carried by the semi-official Mehr News Agency: "With my withdrawal I ask the dear people to strictly observe the criteria of the Supreme Leader of the Revolution [Khamenei] when they vote for candidates." He did not endorse a single candidate, but called for a hardline conservative victory. "I advise the dear people to take a correct decision so that either a conservative wins in the first round, or if the election runs to a second round, the competition between two conservatives."
President of Academy of Persian Language and Literature
Haddad-Adel is also the second president of the Academy of Persian Language and Literature. His presidency at the academy has focused on language policy and planning, and promotion of the Persian language in all domains.
Electoral history
Affiliation Haddad-Adel is a senior member in the conservative umbrella organizations Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, as well as the Popular Front of Islamic Revolution Forces (JAMNA) and is considered close to the Society of Devotees of the Islamic Revolution and the Society of Pathseekers of the Islamic Revolution.
Public image According to a poll conducted in March 2016 by Information and Public Opinion Solutions LLC (iPOS) among Iranian citizens, Haddad-Adel has 51% approval and 27% disapproval ratings and thus a +24% net popularity; while 13% of responders don't know him.
Views One of Haddad-Adel's most significant views has been on the hijab in western civilization. According to him in the book of The Culture of Nakedness and the Nakedness of Culture, the issue of veiling and clothing in the West is problematic. He believes that materialism is the mentality which is governed by Western culture. The culture is based on the priority of material life, with no value in anything beyond materialism. The origin of materialism as a worldview is humanism, according to the renaissance. According to Haddad-Adel, religion serves an important role in Iranian education. Referring to the dominance of religious thought in education, he pointed out that religious education is one result of the victory of the Islamic revolution. He believes that the problem of human freedom is a permanent one. The problem itself has changed with the appearance of new theories in scientific and philosophic domains, particularly in the field of anthropology. He is also an admirer of the development of non-governmental higher education, and believes that developing such schools would lead to decreased demands on the administration of education and pedagogy.
Personal life
Haddad-Adel is married to Tayyebeh Mahrouzadeh with whom he has one son and three daughters. Their daughter Zahra married Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran. This has led to the popular belief that he was among the most trusted and backed allies of Ayatollah Khamenei. Zahra was killed along with her father-in-law in the U.S.–Israeli airstrikes during the 2026 Iran war.
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