Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (1964-19 May 2024) was Foreign Minister of Iran from 25 August 2021 to 19 May 2024, succeeding Mohammad Javad Zarif and preceding Ali Bagheri.
Biography[]
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian was born in Damghan, Semnan Province, Iran in 1964, and he became a diplomat, serving as deputy ambassador in Baghdad, Iraq from 2001 to 2007 and Ambassador to Bahrain from 2007 to 2010, and rising in the ranks of the diplomatic corps. Nicknamed "Mr. Shadow", Amir-Abdollahian was described as Qasem Soleimani's right-hand man who ran Soleimani's own foreign policy. He served as Deputy Foreign Minister from 2011 to 2016, after which he served as Special Aide to the President of the Islamic Parliament of Iran in International Affairs. In a June 2021 interview with Vice correspondent Suroosh Alvi, he stated that Iran had no collaboration with the United States in fighting ISIS, as he said that President Joe Biden had surprised Iran by not intensifying the bombing of ISIS positions in Iraq, and instead "target(ing) the civilian groups of ISIS fighters in the Bukamal region." When Alvi asked what the US needed to do in order to get Iran to restart discussions for the JCPOA nuclear deal, Amir-Abdollahian said that Donald Trump's presidency and actions had discredited the USA in the eyes of Iran, and that it would take around twelve years before the countries could have a rapprochement, and only if the USA lifted its sanctions on Iran. He became Foreign Minister in August 2021 after Ebrahim Raisi assumed the presidency, and he and Raisi were killed in a helicopter crash in Varzaqan, East Azerbaijan in 2024.