munoz + salehi

Energy Secretary Ernest J. Moniz (Fabrice Coffrini / Agence France-Presse — Getty Images, courtesy of NY Times)

have been fascinated by two players in the iran talks — ernest j. moniz, the US secretary of energy, and Ali Akbar Salehi, who oversees iran’s nuclear program — who emerged as “their countries’ No. 2 negotiators, a pair of atomic diplomats taking on the vast technical issues that lie beneath the political disagreements.” the two men share a bond — moniz taught at MIT at the same time that salehi was working on his  dissertation there. i love the idea of the two scientists cutting through politics and using science (and shared experience) as the foundation for diplomacy. and i loved this:

But when Mr. Salehi, who got his nuclear training at M.I.T. before the Iranian revolution, showed up and developed a rapport with Mr. Moniz, the secretary of energy and a former chairman of the M.I.T. physics department, the Iranian bureaucrats were often sidelined, or overruled. (Mr. Moniz played the connection to the hilt, showing up one day with M.I.T.-logo baby gifts for Mr. Salehi’s first grandchild.)

also straight shout out to moniz’s hair (solid). read more here and here.

Mr. Salehi, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization. Credit: Ebrahim Noroozi/Associated Press