Iran's president nominates Abbas Araghchi as foreign minister

Abbas Araghchi was nominated on Sunday as Iran's foreign minister by President Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran's parliament speaker announced live on the Student News Network.

Abbas Araghchi is a seasoned pragmatist diplomat who was the chief negotiator in nuclear talks between Tehran and world powers from 2013 to 2021.

He has served as Iran's ambassador to Turkey and Japan and held the role of deputy foreign minister for Asia-Pacific for two years before becoming spokesperson of the ministry in 2013 for a short period.

When Mohammad Javad Zarif was foreign minister, Araghchi was the second most influential official at the foreign ministry and held roles like deputy for legal and international affairs and deputy for political affairs.

He holds a PhD in Political Thought from the University of Kent.

Mohsen Paknezhad has also been nominated as Iran's Oil Minister by President Masoud.

Paknezhad served as Deputy Minister of Oil for the supervision of hydrocarbon resources from 2018 to 2021.

From 2000 to 2007, Paknezhad was also a member of the board of directors of the Iranian Central Oil Fields Company. From 2005 to 2007, he was the Planning Manager of the Iranian Central Oil Fields Company, and from then until 2013, he served as the Deputy Director of Integrated Planning at the National Iranian Oil Company, according to the Ministry of Oil's Shana news network.

Paknezhad holds a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tehran and a Master's degree in Industrial Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology.

Last week, President Masoud told French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that Iran will not stay quiet over aggression, amid fears of more regional conflict after the killing in Tehran of Hamas' leader Ismail Haniyeh.

"Iran will never remain silent in the face of aggression against its interests and security", Pezeshkian told Macron in a phone call, criticising Israel over the 10-month Gaza war.

"If the United States and the Western countries are truly seeking to prevent war in the region, they must force this regime (Israel) to stop the genocide and attacks on Gaza and accept a ceasefire," he said.

Tehran and Iran-aligned groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah have accused Israel of killing Haniyeh on July 31. His death was one in a series of killings of senior Hamas figures during the war.