Abbas Araghchi

Abbas Araghchi (born December 5, 1962, Tehran, Iran) is a senior diplomat of Iran, noted for his hard-line stances but extensive engagement with the West, especially in negotiations about Iran’s nuclear capabilities. During the dialogue that resulted in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) nuclear deal in 2015, he led some of the negotiations as deputy to the chief negotiator, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and later pushed to revive the deal after the United States withdrew from it in 2018. He was appointed Iran’s minister of foreign affairs shortly after the 2024 inauguration of Pres. Masoud Pezeshkian, who wanted to pursue a deal for sanctions relief with the West. Some observers viewed Araghchi as uniquely positioned to deliver an agreement that would be considered credible to both the West and to Iran’s hard-liners. During the 2026 Iran war, U.S. and Israeli forces targeted some of Iran’s most senior political leaders. Despite Araghchi’s frequent public appearances during the war, he was not among the early targets and was regarded by many observers as a potentially key interlocutor between the belligerents.

Early life and education

Araghchi was born in Tehran to a merchant family from Isfahan. After volunteering in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) during the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88), he began studying at the School of International Relations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1985 and received a bachelor’s degree in 1989. He subsequently worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and later received a master’s degree in political science at Islamic Azad University in 1991. Following a brief post in Saudi Arabia, he attended the University of Kent in England, where he received a doctorate in political thought in 1996; his research examined the intersection of Western-style liberal democracy and Islamic governance. Upon returning to Iran he took on senior roles in the think tank associated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before becoming ambassador to Finland in 1999.

Diplomacy with the West

In 2003, after a dissident group exposed Iran’s clandestine nuclear activities in 2002 and Iran began facing intensifying international pressure, Araghchi was appointed director of the first department of western Europe in Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In this capacity he coordinated diplomacy with Hassan Rouhani, who was leading negotiations with Western diplomats over the nuclear crisis.

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Araghchi held a series of posts in the ministry over the following decade and continued to participate in nuclear negotiations under a succession of chief negotiators, including Ali Larijani (2005–07) and Saeed Jalili (2007–13). Tensions emerged with Jalili, however, and Araghchi sent reports to the Office of the Supreme Leader (Bayt-e Rahbārī) outlining Jalili’s failure to make progress.

When Rouhani became president in 2013, Araghchi took on a central role in the discussions that led to the JCPOA. He represented continuity—the only member of Jalili’s negotiating team who remained on the delegation under Rouhani—and was trusted by the incoming minister of foreign affairs, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who appointed him to a deputy position. After an interim framework was agreed to in November 2013, Araghchi led the negotiations with his counterpart Wendy Sherman, the U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, until their meetings gave way to higher-level talks between Zarif and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. The JCPOA was concluded in 2015, significantly limiting Iran’s nuclear program to civilian purposes and allowing Iran to reintegrate into the world economy. But, to the dismay of the deal’s detractors in the United States, it did not address other tensions, such as Iran’s development of long-range ballistic missiles or its military support to non-state actors such as Hezbollah, and the United States reneged on the deal in 2018 after the U.S. presidency changed hands. When the presidency changed hands again in 2021 and the new administration expressed interest in returning to a deal, Araghchi led Iran’s delegation in the negotiations, though they lasted only until the end of Rouhani’s presidency later that year.

Minister of Foreign Affairs (2024– )

In 2024 Masoud Pezeshkian, whose presidential campaign that year prioritized seeking a new deal with the West for sanctions relief, appointed Araghchi as minister of foreign affairs. Although both Pezeshkian’s election and Araghchi’s appointment signaled that engagement with the West was a policy priority for the regime, conflict in the region emanating from the Israel-Hamas War occupied much of Iran’s foreign policy during Pezeshkian’s presidency. Its regional reach was diminished by the decapitation of Hezbollah’s leadership and the toppling of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, both important allies of Iran. Direct confrontation with Israel in October 2024 and later in the 12-Day War in June 2025 exposed some of Iran’s vulnerabilities and reduced its air defense and missile systems. Those events presaged the 2026 Iran war, in which Israel and the United States launched a large-scale operation against Iran’s military infrastructure and senior leadership. Araghchi, who was rigorous and principled but respected in the West for his engagement in the JCPOA negotiations, emerged during the conflict as a key interlocutor with the potential to close a deal with the United States and sell the concessions to Iran’s entrenched hard-liners.