Iranian International Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, who was killed in a helicopter crash together with the nation’s President Ebrahim Raisi, was identified for his robust anti-Israel stance and his skepticism in the direction of the West.
A profession diplomat and conservative determine with shut ties to the Revolutionary Guards, he took workplace after Raisi’s 2021 election victory.
State media on the time praised his help for the “Axis of Resistance” of armed teams within the Center East linked to Tehran and allied towards their widespread enemy, Israel.
Amirabdollahian’s tenure as Iran’s overseas minister was marked by intense diplomatic efforts geared toward ending Iran’s isolation and softening the influence of powerful US sanctions over Iran’s controversial nuclear program.
Amirabdolakhian notably sought to forge relations with the Islamic Republic’s Arab neighbors together with Saudi Arabia.
In a landmark deal brokered by China, Tehran and Riyadh determined in March 2023 to rekindle relations and open their respective embassies after a long-running rift.
He holds an undergraduate diploma in Worldwide Relations from the College of Tehran, from the place he graduated in 1991, whereas subsequently acquiring a grasp’s diploma and a doctorate in the identical area.
As a diplomat he had served – amongst others – in Iraq from 1997 to 2001 and in Bahrain from 2007 to 2010.
Beneath former populist president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Amirabdollahian served as deputy overseas minister accountable for relations with the Arab world and Africa.
He had been concerned in efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear take care of Western governments after the US unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018 below then-President Donald Trump. Talks, nevertheless, by no means resumed.
Throughout his profession he was identified for his robust ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological arm of the Iranian army.
He was notably near Qasem Soleimani, the previous commander of the Islamic Republic’s Quds Power, which is accountable for the Islamic Republic’s overseas operations, and was killed in 2020 by a US drone strike in Baghdad.
Amirabdolakhian had praised Soleimani’s “strategic thoughts” and in an interview in June 2020 referred to as him a “true diplomat” for his diplomatic abilities.
Final month, with regional tensions at a zenith over the continued struggle in Gaza and violence engulfing Iran’s regional allies, he defended Iran’s first-ever direct assault on Tehran’s sworn enemy, Israel.
The Iranian assault was in retaliation for an earlier airstrike attributed to Israel concentrating on the Iranian consulate in Damascus that killed seven members of the Revolutionary Guards, two of them generals.
Amirabdolakhian had defined that the assault had been carried out “inside the framework of legit protection and worldwide legislation”.
He later downplayed alleged Israeli retaliation concentrating on central Iran’s Isfahan province, house to main nuclear amenities, likening it to kid’s play.
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