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H.E. Dr. Mohammad Javad Zarif, UN Ambassador from Iran, will be presenting a public lecture entitled, "Iran, the West, and the Nuclear Issue" at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs at 4:30 p.m. on Monday, October 17, 2005, in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall on the Princeton University campus.

Ambassador Zarif presented his credentials as the Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran on 5 August 2002 to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Zarif is a career diplomat and has served in different senior positions in the Iranian Foreign Ministry and at various international organizations. His responsibility from 1992 until his appointment as Permanent Representative was Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs.

In the past two decades, Zarif has played an active role in the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement and the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Most recently, he was appointed by the UN Secretary-General as a member of the Group of Eminent Persons on Dialogue among Civilizations. He has also served as chairman of numerous international conferences including the Asian Preparatory Meeting of the World Conference on Racism (2000), the United Nations Disarmament Commission (2000), Sixth (Legal) Committee of the 47th United Nations General Assembly (1992-93), Political Committee of the12th Non-Aligned Summit in Durban (1998), and the OIC High-Level Committee on Dialogue among Civilizations. He also served as the President of the Asian African Legal Consultative Committee from 1997 to 1998.

Zarif has written extensively on disarmament, human rights, international law, and regional conflicts. His writings include "Reflections of Terrorism, Dialogue and Global Ethics" (Seton Hall Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, Winter 2002); "Impermissibility of the Use or Threat of Use of Nuclear Weapons" (Iranian Journal of International Affairs, 1996); "The Principles of International Law: Theoretical and Practical Aspects of their Promotion and Implementation," International Law as a Language for International Relations (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 1996); "Continuity and Change in Iran's Post-Election Foreign Policy" (Foreign Policy Forum, 1998); and "Islam and Universal Declaration of Human Rights," Enriching the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Geneva: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 1999).

Zarif holds a Ph.D. in International Law and Policy from the Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver. In addition to his diplomatic responsibilities, he has been a Visiting Professor of International Law at the University of Tehran, where he has taught human rights, international law and multilateral diplomacy.