Ex-nuclear negotiator tapped to be Iran’s next foreign minister even as pressure to hit Israel grows

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has nominated a diplomat who was involved in the negotiations for the now-defunct 2015 Iran nuclear deal to serve as his foreign minister, even as the new administration faces growing domestic pressure to respond to a suspected Israeli strike that killed a Hamas leader in Tehran last month.

Revealing his proposed new Cabinet on Sunday, Mr. Pezeshkian tapped Abbas Araghchi, a deputy foreign minister under former reformist President Hassan Rouhani, as his foreign minister.

The new president, who took office in a special election after Ebrahim Raisi and his foreign minister died in a helicopter crash earlier this summer, said he hopes to revive the nuclear deal. He said he sees it as a way to ease economic sanctions that were reimposed when President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal in 2018.

Mr. Araghchi, 61, was a lead negotiator on nuclear issues from 2013 to 2021, and, as official spokesman for the Foreign Ministry for much of that time, a frequent target of criticism from conservative Iranian factions who opposed the accord which was designed to put strict limits on the country’s suspect nuclear programs.

Mr. Pezeshkian’s Cabinet picks were presented to the Islamic Consultative Assembly, but it is unclear if all the selections will go through. Hard-liners still dominate the national parliament and have rejected presidential nominations.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported that lawmakers are expected to begin vetting the nominees Monday and hold confirmation votes starting at the end of the week.

Mr. Pezeshkian’s presidential honeymoon has already been cut short by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh’s assassination on July 31. Israel is widely thought to have carried out the assassination.

Ironically, the longtime leader of the Palestinian militant group was in Tehran to attend Mr. Pezeshkian’s swearing-in ceremony.

Mr. Araghchi himself on social media denounced the assassination as a “terrorist attack by Israel.” He added, “The Israeli occupying regime will pay a heavy price, and it will not achieve its ominous goal of putting obstacles in the path of Iran’s new government at the outset of its endeavor.”

Israel has beefed up its defenses and the Biden administration has sent new military assets into the region. Israel is bracing for Iran and its allies to retaliate. 

Despite his electoral victory, Mr. Pezeshkian holds only limited powers in Iran’s theocratic system. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed to avenge the Haniyeh killing. A top aide issued another threat over the weekend that a strike may be in the offing.

Ali Shamkhani, former head of Iran’s National Security Council and an adviser to the ayatollah, said Saturday on X that Iran had completed the “legal, diplomatic, and media” preparations to carry out “severe and crushing” retaliation against Israel.

The U.S. and regional powers have launched a diplomatic blitz to try to limit Iran’s response and avoid a regional war. There are fears that Iranian-linked forces such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Houthi rebels of Yemen, and Shiite militias in Iraq and Syria could be part of the response.

Mr. Pezeshkian broke ground with another of his Cabinet picks Sunday, nominating Farzaneh Sadegh to be minister for roads and housing. She would be only the second female Cabinet official in the 45 years since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.