Name: Kamal Kharazi. Age: 53. Occupation: Iran's new foreign minister. Family background: Comes from a religious family in Qom, a Shia holy town south of Tehran. Now married and father of two sons, 12 and 19. Education: Studied in the US, received a doctorate in science and education in 1976. Former professor. Credentials: Close confidant of President Mohammad Khat ami, and key figure in the Islamic republic since the 1979 revolution. Appearance: Looks donnish, frail, cold and timid, and has been described as unfriendly. Speaks little but watches his interviewers closely and serenely. Has fluent English. Replaces: Ali Akbar Velayati, foreign minister for the past 16 years, who was pivotal in forming Iran's relations with the rest of the world, including its hardline stance toward the West. A supporter of the revolution? When the shah was toppled in 1979, Kharazi was appointed director of programming at state radio and television, then became deputy foreign minister for political affairs. Later headed an educational foundation set up by the Shah's wife, Farah Pahlavi. Any links with the new president? When Khatami was culture minister in the early 1980s he appointed Kharazi director of the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), "the eyes and ears of the government". Eyes and ears? During the Gulf War with Iraq, he was Iran's official military spokesman. At IRNA he was responsible for putting in place a strong network for gathering information and increased the number of IRNA bureaux around the world. And then? Iran's ambassador at the UN in New York since 1989. Prospects: Expected to bring major structural changes to the foreign ministry; many observers believe he could persuade Iranian leaders of the need to lift Iran out of its international isolation.