Abbas Araqchi, a seasoned Iranian diplomat, faces one of the most delicate challenges of his career this weekend as he prepares to lead Tehran's delegation in negotiations with the United States aimed at reaching a new nuclear deal and preventing a military attack on the Islamic Republic.
His country's religious establishment, according to Reuters, is approaching the negotiations in Oman cautiously and with distrust of US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly threatened bombing if an agreement is not reached.
Whether the negotiations are conducted directly, as Trump claims, or indirectly, as Tehran insists, Araqchi will find himself up against US envoy Steve Witkoff, a construction magnate with no prior experience in foreign policy - let alone the tense, long-running dispute over Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Araqchi is a descendant of a merchant family from Isfahan, who joined the Islamic Revolution as a teenager in 1979, fought in the Iran-Iraq War in the XNUMXs, and then began a brilliant diplomatic career.
Although Tehran does not expect the negotiations to progress far, the political leadership seems confident in Araqchi's ability to skillfully represent Iran's position.
“Araqchi is the right person in the right place at the right time,” Iranian analyst Saeed Leylaaz told Reuters. “He is one of the most powerful foreign ministers in the history of the Islamic Republic, who enjoys the full trust of the supreme leader and knows all aspects of the nuclear issue.”
The measured and unobtrusive Arakchi earned a reputation as a master of tough negotiations by playing a key role in the talks that led to the nuclear deal in 2015, and was chosen as foreign minister last year by new president Massoud Pezeshkian.
Araqchi's reputation in Tehran could protect him from internal criticism if Iran is forced to make concessions on key issues during negotiations with the US.
Western diplomats, who participated in negotiations between Iran and six world powers, describe him as a "serious, technically savvy and straightforward diplomat."
The agreement, which provided for the lifting of sanctions in exchange for limits on Iran's uranium enrichment program, was canceled by Donald Trump in 2018 during his first presidential term, after which harsh sanctions were reimposed.
Araqchi was also the chief negotiator in the ultimately unsuccessful indirect talks to revive the agreement during the tenure of US President Joe Biden, after which he was replaced by a hardliner hostile to the West.
Shortly thereafter, Araqchi was appointed secretary of Iran's Strategic Council for Foreign Relations - a key body that advises Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, putting him within the inner circle of the country's highest authority.
Born in Tehran in 1962 into a wealthy religious merchant family, Araqchi was only 17 years old when the Islamic Revolution swept Iran and filled many young people with radical fervor.
Inspired by the overthrow of the US-backed dynastic regime of the Shah and the promise of a new future, he joined the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and participated in the war with Iraq from 1980 to 1988.
After the end of the conflict, he joined the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1989, then served as ambassador to Finland from 1999 to 2003 and to Japan from 2007 to 2011, before becoming the Foreign Ministry spokesman in 2013.
He received his PhD in political science from the University of Kent in the UK and was appointed Deputy Foreign Minister in 2013.
A devout Muslim who firmly believes in the ideals of the Islamic Revolution, Araqchi has served presidents whose political instincts have ranged from pragmatic to hardline.
Throughout his tenure, Iran's relations with the wider international community have been defined in part by its nuclear program - which Tehran claims is exclusively for civilian purposes, while many Western countries believe it is aimed at developing the capacity to make nuclear bombs.
His reputation in Tehran could protect him from internal criticism in the event that Iran is forced to make concessions on key issues during negotiations with the US.
Despite being part of the political elite and close to Ayatollah Khamenei, Araqchi has kept himself aloof from “political conflicts and infighting” among factions, according to a senior Iranian official. “He has good relations with the supreme leader, the Revolutionary Guard and all political factions in Iran,” said one official.
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