Akbar Torkan

Akbar Torkan
Torkan in August 2014
Senior Advisor to the President of Iran
Incumbent
Assumed office 26 August 2013
President	Hassan Rouhani
Preceded by	Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi
Minister of Roads and Transportation
In office 6 September 1993 – 20 August 1997
President	Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Preceded by	Mohammad Saeedikia
Succeeded by	Mahmoud Hojjati
Minister of Defense
In office 21 August 1989 – 20 August 1993
President	Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Preceded by	Mohammad Hossein Jalali
Succeeded by	Mohammad Forouzandeh
Personal details
Born	1952 (age 64–65) Tehran, Iran
Nationality	Iranian
Political party	Moderation and Development Party Executives of Construction Party
Residence	Tehran
Alma mater	Sharif University
Religion	Islam

Akbar Torkan is an Iranian mechanical engineer and politician who is the current CEO of Iran's Construction Engineering Organization and also President Hassan Rouhani's chief adviser since 5 August 2013. He was the Minister of Defense and Minister of Roads and Transportation in the government headed by President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Torkan graduated from Sharif University of Technology. He was governor of Hormozgan, and Ilam provinces after the revolution in 1979. Even though he was a civilian, he served as the head of the defense industries establishment during wartime. After the war he supported president Rafsanjani in his election.

He was appointed Minister of Defense in 1989 by Rafsanjani in his cabinet in his first term. He was approved by the Majlis with a majority vote, 242 for and 10 against. In second term of Rafsanjani's presidency, Torkan was appointed as the Minister of Roads and Transportation.

According to the Tehran Times, Torkan is one of the "trusted members of Rohani’s inner circle." The same source said that Torkan is known for his liberal views on a market economy, and that he served as the deputy director of Rouhani's presidential campaign.