Manouchehr Mottaki 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 politician and diplomat. He was the 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 Minister of Foreign Affairs

Minister of Foreign Affairs (Iran)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is an Iranian government ministry. The Minister for Foreign Affairs is the Cabinet member in charge....

. Whilst technically appointed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he is considered to be closer to more pragmatic conservative factions and during the 2005 presidential election

Iranian presidential election, 2005

Iran's ninth presidential election took place in two rounds, the first on June 17, 2005, the run-off on June 24. Mohammad Khatami, the previous President of Iran, stepped down on August 2, 2005, after serving his maximum two consecutive four-year terms according to the Islamic Republic's constitution...

, he was the campaign manager

Campaign manager

A campaign manager is a paid or volunteer individual, whose role is to coordinate the campaign's operations such as fundraising, advertising, polling, getting out the vote , and other activities supporting the effort, directly.Apart from the candidate, they are often a campaign's most visible leader...

 of Ali Larijani

Ali Larijani

Ali Ardashir Larijani is an Iranian philosopher, politician and the chairman of the Iranian parliament. Larijani was the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council from August 15, 2005 to October 20, 2007, appointed to the position by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,replacing Hassan Rowhani...

, the Muslim conservative candidate.
Mottaki was born in Bandar-e-gaz County

Bandar-e-gaz County

Bandar-e-Gaz County is a county in Golestan Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Bandar Gaz. At the 2006 census, the county's population was 46,179, in 12,059 families. The county has two districts: Now Kandeh District and Central District...

 and went to school there. Bandar-Gaz was considered an important city in the north with a national railroad and several infrastructures during the Reza Shah Pahlavi regime due to its position as a transit bridge to the north mainly to the former Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

.