Iran has announced that Gholamali Khoshrou, its ambassador to Switzerland, will serve as Iran’s new envoy to the United Nations.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced the new appointment on January 28 while again denouncing the United States for failing to issue a visa to the Foreign Ministry’s first choice, Hamid Aboutalebi.
When Iran previously announed that Hamid Aboutalebi would serve as its envoy to the UN, the United States raised objections. The U.S. announced that it would not issue a visa to Aboutalebi because, according to its intelligence, he was linked to the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Iran in 1979 and the hostage crisis that followed.
Iran has denounced the U.S. denial of a visa and said it will pursue the matter through the UN’s legal mechanisms.
Khoshrou is one of the founders of the foreign ministry’s University of International Relations. He has also served as ambassador to Australia.
The Foreign Ministry states that Khoshrou’s appointment is due to the need for Iran’s “effective and active presence at the UN specifically in the current critical regional and international situation.”
