NATO sends condolences to Iran; Ali Bagheri named acting foreign minister

NATO sends "condolences" to Iran; Ali Bagheri named acting foreign minister
by AFP Staff Writers
Brussels, Belgium (AFP) May 20, 2024

The NATO military alliance on Monday expressed "condolences" to Iran over the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.

"Our condolences to the people of Iran for the death of President Raisi, Foreign Minister Amir-Abdollahian, and others who perished in the helicopter crash," said NATO spokesperson Farah Daklallah on X, the former Twitter.

Iran's nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri named acting foreign minister
Tehran (AFP) May 20, 2024 - Iran's veteran nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri, a harsh critic of the West, was Monday named acting foreign minister to replace the top diplomat killed in a helicopter crash along with the president.

Bagheri, 56, had served as deputy to the foreign minister of the Islamic republic, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who perished along with the Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi and seven others in the accident.

Bagheri is considered close to Iran's ultraconservatives and a member of the inner circle of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is the father-in-law of Bagheri's brother.

The negotiator with the salt-and-pepper beard came to be known to his interlocutors for a soft-spoken composure that often stood in sharp contrast to his uncompromising stance.

"Every time foreigners intervene, under any pretext... their presence interferes with the security and stability of the region," Bagheri once said.

The new acting foreign minister has long experience with Iran's nuclear dossier -- the flashpoint issue that has pitted Tehran against major powers and arch foe Israel, who suspect it is seeking the atomic bomb.

Iran struck a landmark nuclear deal in 2015 in Vienna under which it agreed to curb the programme in return for sanctions relief, but former US president Donald Trump withdrew from it three years later.

After Iran had agreed the Vienna deal under its moderate president Hassan Rouhani, Bagheri emerged as one of its main critics, accusing the administration of bowing to the West.

He charged that the deal violated most of Khamenei's "red lines" by imposing curbs and strict surveillance on the nuclear programme, which Iran says is strictly for civilian purposes.

After the US withdrawal and reimposition of sanctions in 2018, Bagheri accused Rouhani of having "given the West the impression that Iran is very weak".

He later also used tough language to defend Iran's efforts to revive the deal.

Last year he charged that the critics of those efforts "in reality want to deprive the Islamic republic of a key and important tool to guarantee national interests".

Born in 1967 in the village of Kan in northwestern Tehran, Bagheri grew up in a family deeply involved in politics in the Islamic republic.

His father, a renowned Shiite cleric, was a member of the Assembly of Experts tasked with selecting the supreme leader. Bagheri's uncle, Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani, later led the same body.

Bagheri worked in the foreign ministry in the 1990s and grew close to conservative figure Saeed Jalili.

When Jalili was appointed secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and became Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Bagheri served as his number two.

After Bagheri concluded his own mission at the Council, he joined the judiciary when it was headed by Raisi. He served as secretary of the human rights council and then assistant for international affairs.

Weeks after Raisi took office in 2021, Bagheri was appointed deputy foreign minister for political affairs and chief nuclear negotiator.

But those talks have since come to a standstill over seemingly insurmountable differences, particularly with Washington.

China's Xi says Iran president's death 'great loss'
Beijing (AFP) May 20, 2024 - China's President Xi Jinping on Monday paid tribute to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, describing his "tragic death" in a helicopter crash as "a great loss to the Iranian people".

Raisi was declared dead on Monday after rescue teams found his crashed helicopter in a fog-shrouded western mountain region.

Xi sent "sincere condolences" to the Iran's first vice president, foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing.

"(Raisi's) tragic death is a great loss to the Iranian people, and the Chinese people have lost a good friend," Wang quoted Xi as saying.

China is a close partner of Iran, its largest trade partner, and a top buyer of its sanctioned oil.

According to Wang, Xi said that "President Raisi has made important contributions to maintaining Iran's security and stability, promoting national development and prosperity, and also made active efforts to consolidate and develop the China-Iran comprehensive strategic partnership".

China would offer "all necessary support and assistance" and "continue to support the Iranian government and people in safeguarding their independence, stability and development", he said.

Wang said China had also expressed "deep sorrow" at the death of Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who was also on the helicopter.

The Iranian flag was at half-mast outside its embassy in Beijing, an AFP reporter saw.

Contact was lost with the aircraft carrying Raisi and others in East Azerbaijan province in northwest Iran on Sunday, reports said.

The president had earlier met Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev on their common border to inaugurate a dam project.

Iran and China have deepened trade ties in recent years, though Beijing's efforts to pull Tehran into its flagship Belt and Road Initiative infrastructure project have been complicated by sanctions.

The United States has repeatedly called on China to use its influence over Iran to manage tensions in the Middle East, which have been heightened by the Israel-Hamas war.

China has historically been sympathetic to the Palestinians, backing a two-state solution.

It has also used its diplomatic clout to broker a detente between Iran and long-time foe Saudi Arabia in 2023.