Iran Analysis: Rouhani Names a UN Ambassador to Pursue “Dialogue” and Support a Nuclear Agreement

In a strong signal of his pursuit of a foreign policy of “engagement”, President Rouhani has named career diplomat Gholam Ali Khoshroo to fill the long-vacant post of Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations.

Khoshroo is well-known for his promotion of former Iranian President Mohamamd Khatami’s “Dialogue of Civilizations”, both in his service in the Khatami Government from 2003 to 2005 and in his subsequent diplomatic work and his editorship of the Encyclopedia of Contemporary Islam.

Khoshroo, currently Iran’s ambassador to Switzerland, served at the UN from 1989 to 2005 and was part of the team around current Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif when Zarif was Tehran’s Ambassador between 2002 and 2007. The diplomat previously had experience of New York through his study at The New School for Social Research.

Khoshroo also has a significant connection with the Rouhani Government’s pursuit of a nuclear agreement with the West. He was involved in the negotiations between 2003 and 2005, led by Rouhani, with the “EU3” group of France, Germany, and Britain.

During the Khatami Presidency, Khoshroo was also Deputy Foreign Minister for legal and international affairs, and he is still Khatami’s special adviser for the “Dialogue of Civilizations”, a concept introduced in 1998 at the UN in response to the US academic Samuel Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations”.

Khosroo said in March 2014 in an English-language video, “If the [Dialogue of Civilizations] at that time was considered a good recommendation, I think it is now an imperative.” He has also appeared in numerous videos to promote President Rouhani’s engagement:

Rouhani had chosen Hamid Aboutalebi in April 2014 to serve as Ambassador, but the US refused to grant the nominee a visa, citing his involvement in the student takeover of the US Embassy in 1979. Abutalebi is now Rouhani’s political affairs adviser.

The Foreign Ministry said its protest over the US ban on Abutalebi has not been withdrawn, but it continued:

The Islamic Republic believes that in order to secure its national interests and promote Iran’s place on the international scene, it must use the opportunity to secure Iran’s interests at a maximum level and it is necessary to have an active and effective presence at the United Nations, especially in consideration of the critical regional and international situation.