Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has appointed Professor Fereydoun Abbasi as the head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI).

“Based on Article 124 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran and given your commitment and past scientific and executive record… I appoint you as the vice president and the head of Atomic Energy Organization,” President Ahmadinejad said in his decree on Sunday.

Abbasi, who is a professor at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, will replace Ali Akbar Salehi who was appointed as foreign minister last month.

In November 2010, Abbasi and Dr. Majid Shahriari, also a professor at Shahid Beheshti University, were attacked by terrorists who detonated bombs in their vehicles in separate locations.

Shahriari was killed immediately, but professor Abbasi and his wife sustained injuries and were transferred to hospital.

In December 2010, Iran's Intelligence Ministry arrested some of the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks against Iranian nuclear scientists.