Raisi's foreign minister pick indicates change for Iranian policy
The choice of incoming Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian suggests that new Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi is downgrading the role of the Foreign Ministry in regional conflicts.
Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly, or parliament, will consider President Ebrahim Raisi’s Cabinet on Aug. 25.
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, the nominee for foreign minister and the only deputy minister from President Hassan Rouhani’s administration to remain to be considered for Raisi’s Cabinet, has been nominated to replace his former boss, outgoing Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Amir-Abdollahian, a career diplomat who is known to be close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is expected to chart a less Western-focused approach than his former boss.
It is now expected that diplomats close to the IRGC's Quds Force will hold influential posts in Iran’s diplomatic missions in the Middle East region. When Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani was still alive, all the Iranian ambassadors to the Arab countries in the Middle East could be removed and appointed according to his wishes.
