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Kamal Kharazi

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Seyyed
Kamal Kharazi
کمال خرازی
Kharazi in 2015
Member of Expediency Discernment Council
In office
20 September 2022 – 9 April 2026
Appointed byAli Khamenei
ChairmanSadiq Larijani
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran
In office
20 August 1997 – 24 August 2005
PresidentMohammad Khatami
Preceded byAli Akbar Velayati
Succeeded byManouchehr Mottaki
Ambassador of Iran to the United Nations
In office
12 April 1989 – 30 August 1997
PresidentAkbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Preceded byMohammad Jafar Mahallati
Succeeded byMohammad Hadi Nejad Hosseinian
Personal details
BornAli Naghi Kharazi
(1944-12-01)1 December 1944
Tehran, Iran
Died9 April 2026(2026-04-09) (aged 81)
Tehran, Iran
Cause of deathAssassination by airstrike
University of Tehran
University of Houston
International Conference on Aggression and Defense in Tehran 7-9 August 1988 - 180 scholars from 21 countries presented their research on the Iran-Iraq War

Sayyid Kamal Kharazi (Persian: کمال خرازی, 1 December 1944 – 9 April 2026) was an Iranian reformist politician and diplomat who served as the foreign minister of Iran from 20 August 1997 to 24 August 2005.[1]

Kharazi was succeeded as foreign minister by Manouchehr Mottaki following Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election. He later served as an advisor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, chaired the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, and co-founded the Institute for Cognitive Science Studies in 2016.[2][3][4][5] He died on 9 April 2026 from wounds sustained in an airstrike during the 2026 Iran war.

Early life and education

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Kharazi was born in Tehran in 1944.[6] He gained a BA in Arabic studies followed by a MEd from the University of Tehran. From 1975-76, he was a teaching fellow at the University of Houston, which awarded him a PhD in industrial psychology.[7]

Career

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Kharazi was a Professor of Management and Educational Psychology at Tehran University starting in 1983. Kharazi was a founding member of the Islamic Research Institute in London.

He held a number of governmental, diplomatic, and academic posts and headed Iranian delegations at numerous international conferences, most importantly at the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. For several years Kharazi presented the official Iranian position on TV and at university campuses in the United States and Europe and wrote extensively on foreign policy issues. He had extensive experience in guiding the media during the early days of the Iranian Revolution.

From July 1980 to September 1989, he was the President of the Islamic Republic News Agency. On 18 September 1980, the Iran–Iraq War broke out, and Kharazi served as a member of the Supreme Defense Council of Iran and headed the War Information Headquarter. He served as a military spokesman for most of the war (from September 1980 to September 1988).[6]

During the first months after the Iranian Revolution, Kharazi served as the Vice-President of Iranian National Television (March to August 1979) for the new Islamic state. He then served as the Vice-Minister for Political Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (from August 1979 to March 1980) and as the Managing Director of the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (from August 1979 to July 1981). Previously, he represented Iran at the United Nations from 1989 to 1997.[6]

In 2006, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, created the Foreign Relations Steering Council and appointed Kharazi as Chairman.[8][9][10][11]

In 2015, Kharazi was condemned for questioning Bahrain’s Arab identity, statements that were considered disrespectful by members of Bahrain’s Council of Representatives and Foreign Affairs Committee, who stated his remarks were a violation of international law.[12]

In May 2023, Kharazi was the opening speaker at an Iranian-Arab dialogue conference in Doha, Qatar.[13]

Personal life

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Kharazi was married with two children. In April 2026 his wife was killed in the same airstrike that fatally wounded him. His nephew, Sadegh Kharazi, is Iran's ambassador to Paris and played a key role in developing the so-called roadmap or 'Swiss memo'.[14]

Assassination

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On 1 April 2026, Iranian outlet Nournews reported that Kharazi had been seriously injured and his wife killed in a targeted U.S.-Israeli airstrike that hit his home in Tehran during the 2026 Iran war.[15] On 9 April, Iranian media reported that he had died of his wounds at the age of 81.[16][17]

Published works

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Kharazi wrote and translated a number of textbooks and articles on education and management.[18]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ John F. Burns; Terence Neilan (17 May 2005). "Iranian Envoy in Iraq for Talks, as Rebels Battle U.S. Gunships". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
  2. ^ "Iran to change nuclear doctrine if existence threatened, adviser to supreme leader says". Reuters. Archived from the original on 10 October 2024. Retrieved 5 March 2025.
  3. ^ "Deep Dive: Will Iran's new president pursue dialogue with the west?". Amwaj.media. Retrieved 5 March 2025.
  4. ^ "Araghchi: Iran's new FM pick who calls Nasrallah a 'role model'". www.iranintl.com. 12 August 2024. Retrieved 5 March 2025.
  5. ^ "Welcome Note – ICSS". Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  6. ^ a b c Buchta, Wilfried (2000). Who rules Iran? (PDF). The Washington Institute and The Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. p. 19. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 March 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2012.
  7. ^ Kamal Kharrazi (CV) Archived 4 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine in his homepage at the University of Tehran (In Farsi)
  8. ^ "Deep Dive: Will Iran's new president pursue dialogue with the west?". Amwaj.media. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  9. ^ "Power Struggle in Iran – Part III: Iran Establishes New Foreign Relations Steering Council". MEMRI. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  10. ^ "Araghchi: Iran's new FM pick who calls Nasrallah a 'role model'". www.iranintl.com. 12 August 2024. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  11. ^ "An Alleged Letter To Bush In 2003 Reignites Controversy In Iran". Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. 27 May 2020. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  12. ^ "Bahrain MPs condemn Iran's questioning of Manama's Arab identity". Middle East Monitor. 21 October 2024. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  13. ^ "Advisor To Khamenei In Qatar To Attend Iran-Arab Dialog Conference". www.iranintl.com. 27 May 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2025.
  14. ^ "Knut Mellenthin: Übersetzung des Memorandums des Schweizer Botschafters in Teheran (20.2.2007)". 18 November 2007. Archived from the original on 18 November 2007. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  15. ^ "Former Iran FM 'seriously injured,' wife killed in Tehran strike". Al Arabiya English. 1 April 2026. Retrieved 1 April 2026.
  16. ^ "Reports in Iran: Former Foreign Minister Kharrazi dies from wounds, week and a half after his home was attacked". Ynetglobal. Reuters. 9 April 2026. Retrieved 9 April 2026.
  17. ^ Eavis, Peter; Goldbaum, Christina; Bearak, Max; Boxerman, Aaron (9 April 2026). "Iran War Live Updates: Israel Agrees to Talks With Lebanon, Where Its Strikes Imperil Cease-Fire". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 10 April 2026.
  18. ^ "Kamal Kharrazi | World Leaders Forum". worldleaders.columbia.edu. Retrieved 10 April 2026.
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