Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was elected in the elections held on June 18, 2021. Raisi won 62% of the votes and took office as the 8th President of Iran with a clear majority. During his presidency, there has been a focus on improving relations with neighboring countries. Diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia were re-established after 7 years. Ebrahim Raisi was on the US sanctions list before being elected president. He is accused of playing roles in executions of political prisoners and suppressing social unrest in 2009, which led to his inclusion on the US sanctions list in November 2019. Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is who?
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, whose full name is Hossein Amir Abdollahian, was born in 1964 in Damghan city of Iran's Semnan province. He graduated from Tehran University's International Relations Department in 1991 and speaks Farsi, Arabic, and English. Amir-Abdollahian served as an ambassador to Bahrain for a period during the term of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He also worked as Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs during the terms of both Ahmadinejad and Hassan Rouhani. Amir-Abdollahian took over as Foreign Minister in August 2021 after his predecessor, former Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.
Under Amir-Abdollahian's tenure as Foreign Minister, Iran managed to re-establish diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia and open embassies in March 2023, after tensions between the two countries for seven years.
