TEHRAN -- Iran’s new president Ebrahim Raisi on Wednesday picked a Foreign Ministry veteran to replace Muhammad Javad Zarif as the nation’s top diplomat.
Hussein Amirabdollahian, a fluent Arabic speaker and previously deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs, was proposed for the role in a list of cabinet ministers presented to lawmakers.
“Raisi’s choice shows that he gives importance to regional issues in his foreign policy,” an unnamed former Iranian official was quoted by Reuters as saying.
A former ambassador to Bahrain, Amirabdollahian was deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs between 2011 and 2016. He was deputy chief of mission at Iran’s embassy in Baghdad from 1997-2001.
Parliament will debate the choices for a week before voting to approve or reject the nominees. Other candidates include Javad Owji as minister of petroleum.
Owji has held senior positions at oil, gas and petrochemical industries, including a stint as head of the National Iranian Gas Co. He also served as managing director of two energy companies.
If approved, the 57-year-old Amirabdollahian, will steer Iran’s negotiating team once talks resume in Vienna over how to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.
A sixth round of the talks were held on June 20, with Iranian and Western officials saying major gaps remained to be resolved in returning Washington to full compliance with the pact.
Parties involved in the talks have yet to set a date for the next round of negotiations.
If the sides can move forward, the fact that Amirabdollahian’s views are in line with those of the establishment could be advantageous, said Ali Vaez, director of the Iran Project at the International Crisis Group.
Amirabdollahian would be a “more difficult interlocutor for the West but a more capable one, as he will face much less internal resistance to his initiatives as his predecessor did,” he Bloomberg.
Oil markets are watching close for signs of when a new round of negotiations might begin as an agreement could unleash a surge in Iranian crude exports later in the year.
Amirabdollahian has been part of Iran’s nuclear negotiating teams in the past, both under a reformist government and former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
President Raisi took the oath of office on August 5. He had two weeks to submit his new cabinet to the parliament, but drew up the list in only six days.
He also named Ehsan Khandoozi as minister of economic affairs and finance; Esma’eel Khatib as minister of intelligence; Isa Zare’pour as minister of communication and information technology; Hussein Baghgoli as minister of education; Bahram Einollahi as minister of health, treatment, and medical education; Hojjat Abdolmaleki as minister of labor, cooperatives, and welfare; Javad Sa’adatinejad as minister of agricultural Jihad; General Muhammad Reza Qaraee-Ashtiani as minister of defense and armed forces logistics; Amin Hussein Rahimi as minister of justice; Rostam Qassemi as minister of roads and urban development; Reza Fatemi Amin as minister of industry, mine, and trade; Muhammad Mahdi Esmaeili as minister of culture and Islamic guidance; Ahmad Vahidi as interior minister; Ali Akbar Mehrabian as minister of energy; Muhammad Ali Zolfigol as minister of science, research and technology and Ezzatollah Zarqami as Minister of cultural heritage.