Ali Bagheri Kani (; born 1967) is an Iranian

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

who was formerly political deputy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran from September 2021 to September 2024. He was acting

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

in 2024. He is considered to be close to the

Principlists The Principlists (, ), also interchangeably known as the Iranian Conservatives Open access material licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. and formerly referred to as the Right or Right-win ...

and to be part of the inner circle of the Iranian

supreme leader A supreme leader or supreme ruler typically refers to powerful figures with an unchallenged authority, such as autocrats, dictators to spiritual and revolutionary leaders. Historic examples are Adolf Hitler () of Nazi Germany, Francisco ...

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Early life and education

Bagheri was born in 1967 in the village of Kan in

Tehran County Tehran County () is in Tehran province of Iran. Its capital is the city of Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran Count ...

. His father, Mohammad-Bagher Bagheri, is a

Shiite Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

cleric who served as a member of the

Assembly of Experts The Assembly of Experts (), also translated as the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership or as the Council of Experts, is the deliberative body empowered to appoint the Supreme Leader of Iran. All directly elected members must first be vetted ...

, while his uncle, Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani, later led the same body. His brother, Mesbah al-Hoda Bagheri Kani, is a son-in-law of Supreme Leader Ayatollah

Ali Khamenei Ali Hosseini Khamenei (; born 19 April 1939) is an Iranian cleric and politician who has served as the second supreme leader of Iran since 1989. He previously served as the third President of Iran, president from 1981 to 1989. Khamenei's tenure ...

. Bagheri Kani studied economics at the

Imam Sadiq University The Imam Sadiq University () is an Islamic private university in Tehran, Iran. Established in 1982, the goal of the university is to combine Islamic research and modern studies, especially humanities. The university was dedicated to training pol ...

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

Career

Bagheri has been a diplomat since 1990.SNSC members
/ref> He was Deputy Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council from 2007 to 2013 and currently serves as advisor at the council. He was also chairman of Saeed Jalili's presidential campaign in the 2013 election. He also briefly worked as a political analyst at

IRIB The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB; ) or Seda va Sima () for short, formerly called National Iranian Radio and Television until the Iranian revolution of 1979, is an Iranian state-controlled media corporation that holds a monopo ...

. On 14 February 2011, Bagheri was arrested after being summoned by the Intelligence Ministry. He served as a political director for the

Interior Ministry An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

during the presidency of

Mohammad Khatami Mohammad Khatami (born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician and Shia cleric who served as the fifth president of Iran from 3 August 1997 to 3 August 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture from 1982 to 1992. Later, he was critic ...

. Kani was the lead negotiator in

mediation Mediation is a structured, voluntary process for resolving disputes, facilitated by a neutral third party known as the mediator. It is a structured, interactive process where an independent third party, the mediator, assists disputing parties ...

s between Iran and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in the September 2023 prisoner release deal. He had served as deputy to the foreign minister. Kani served as the Acting

on 20 May 2024, following the death of his predecessor Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in a helicopter crash. On 3 June 2024, he made his first overseas visit as foreign minister to

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, during which he confirmed that the Iranian government was engaged in negotiations with the United States hosted by

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

. He served as minister until his replacement by

Abbas Araghchi Sayyid Abbas Araghchi (, ; also spelled Araqchi, born 5 December 1962) is an Iranian diplomat and politician, who is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran since August 2024. He previously served as the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign A ...

on 21 August 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bagheri, Ali 1967 births Living people Politicians from Tehran Iranian nuclear negotiators Iranian campaign managers