UNITED NATIONS: Iranian President Hassan Rowhani has selected a new ambassador to represent Tehran at the United Nations, Hamid Abutalebi, a veteran diplomat who has held key European postings in the past, Iranian sources said.
Abutalebi, who has served as Iran’s ambassador to Italy, Belgium and Australia, was chosen to replace Iran’s outgoing ambassador, Mohammad Khazaee, sources said. Khazaee’s departure was previously announced. A spokesman for Iran’s UN mission declined to comment.
Abutalebi began working for the Islamic Republic’s foreign ministry in the early 1980s, not long after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. One Western diplomat at the United Nations said that Abutalebi was connected to circles close to Rowhani and former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, both considered to be pragmatists who have good relations with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
If granted a visa by the United States to work in New York as Iran’s UN envoy, Abutalebi will replace Khazaee. A US State Department spokeswoman did not have an immediate response when queried about Abutalebi as head of Iran’s UN mission. Khazaee was viewed by Western UN delegations as relatively moderate, Western diplomats said.
Abutalebi is hoping to arrive as early as next month, the sources said.
Reuters
