Baghdad, Beirut, Damascus, Doha, New York, Istanbul. Since the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on October 7, the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, has increased his travels. During a trip to Türkiye, Wednesday 1er November, the diplomat left open the possibility of opening other fronts. “If this continues [l’opération militaire israélienne à Gaza] thus, the resistance groups will opt for another surprise decision and the conditions will change. The region [le Moyen-Orient ] is very close to making an important and decisive decision. The United States and Israel will be responsible for the expansion of the war »he warned.
A little earlier, traveling to New York for the United Nations General Assembly on October 26, speaking at the emergency meeting organized on the conflict between Israel and Hamas, he had directly threatened the United States. United : “If clashes are not controlled, they [les Américains] will not be safe. »
Hossein Amir Abdollahian is trying to establish himself as “the spokesperson for the axis of resistance”, explains Hamidreza Azizi, researcher at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, an international relations research institute based in Berlin. While the other figures of this “axis” – a coalition of states and non-state actors which includes in its ranks the Iraqi Shiite militias, the Syrian regime and Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as the Houthi rebels in Yemen – are unable to travel due to Western sanctions which concern them personally, the head of Iranian diplomacy takes advantage of his status to embody their official voice.
Mark its difference from its predecessor
Close to the Al-Quds Force, responsible for external operations guards of the revolution, the country’s ideological army, he relies on his knowledge of Muslim Arab countries in the region, and his role as intermediary between Al-Quds and foreign affairs under the control of the president, the ultraconservative Ebrahim Raissi. “Hossein Amir Abdollahian was placed in this position so that there would be more coordination between the guards and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Today, this ministry in Iran no longer weighs anything”explains the same researcher.
In August 2021, during his speech to the Iranian Parliament, Hossein Amir Abdollahian emphasized that he would jointly lead “the military field” And ” diplomacy “. A barely veiled allusion to his proximity to the revolutionary guards, with the aim of marking his difference with his predecessor, Mohammad Javad Zarif. This last, little before the end of his mandate, in 2021, had accused the former commander of Al Quds, Ghassem Soleimani, of having harmed the country’s diplomatic efforts, particularly during and after the signing, in 2015, of the agreement on Tehran’s nuclear issue with the West. Three years later, in 2018, the “deal” became obsolete after the unilateral exit of former US President Donald Trump.
You have 40% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.