Jaishankar congratulates Seyed Abbas Aragchi on appointment as Iran’s Foreign Minister

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has congratulated Seyed Abbas Aragchi on his appointment as the Foreign Minister of Iran.

Extending his wishes to his Iranian counterpart, Jaishankar, in a post on X, wrote “Congratulate Seyed Abbas Aragchi @araghchi on your appointment as Foreign Minister of Iran.”

“Look forward to working with you to further relations,” he added.

Snap elections were held in Iran after President Ebrahim Raisi died in a chopper crash along with Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and other officials in Iran’s remote northwest in May.

Reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian has secured a win in the presidential elections in Iran.

Pezeshkian was elected in a second round of voting after he received the highest number of votes in the first round, ahead of Jalili. The first round witnessed the lowest turnout for a presidential election since Iran was established in 1979.

The President of Iran enjoys some powers. However, the ultimate authority lies with Iran’s supreme leader, who has the final say on the matters of state.

Masoud Pezeshkian was a health minister under reformist president Mohammad Khatami. He is a trained heart surgeon and lawmaker. He gained the attention of people for his stance against the crackdown on the 2009 pro-democracy protests and the violence perpetrated by the notorious morality police in 2022 after Mahsa Amini’s death.

Initially, the election was scheduled for June next year in Iran, which would have been four years after Raisi’s election. However, a 50-day constitutional window to hold a new referendum was triggered by the president’s death in a helicopter crash.

The snap election on June 28 occurred inside the 50-day legally mandated deadline for selecting a new president after Ebrahim Raisi and seven others, including Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, were killed in a helicopter accident on May 19.