TEHRAN - Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi on Sunday appointed Mohammad Eslami as the new chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), Iran's government's website reported.

Eslami, the former minister of Transport and Urban Development in former president Hassan Rouhani's administration, replaces Ali Akbar Salehi who has served the position since August 2013.

Eslami holds degrees in civil engineering and has also formerly served as the governor of Iran's Mazandaran province, deputy minister of the Ministry of Defense and the CEO of Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company.