Ali Ardashir Larijani is an Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

ian philosopher

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

, politician and the chairman of the Iranian parliament. Larijani was the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council

Supreme National Security Council

Supreme National Security Council is the national security council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the current secretary of which is Saeed Jalili. This institution was founded during the 1989 revision of the constitution...

 from August 15, 2005 to October 20, 2007, appointed to the position by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
replacing Hassan Rowhani

Hassan Rowhani

Hassan Rowhani is an Iranian politician and cleric, and as of March 2007, a member of the Supreme National Security Council. Rowhani's membership in the council is as one of the two representatives of the Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran...

. Acceptance of Larijani's resignation from the secretary position was announced on October 20, 2007 by Gholamhossein Elham, the Iranian government's spokesman, mentioning that his previous resignations were turned down by President Ahmadinejad.

Larijani is one of the two representatives of the Supreme Leader

Supreme leader

A supreme leader typically refers to a figure in the highest leadership position of an entity, group, organization, or state, who exercises strong or all-powerful authority over it. In religion, the supreme leader or supreme leaders is God or Gods...

 Ali Khamenei

Ali Khamenei

Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...

 to the council, the other being Hassan Rowhani.