Iran names Qassemi as new ambassador to France

Ministry of Foreign Affairs has named Bahram Qassemi as the country’s new ambassador to France.

According to Press TV, President Hassan Rouhani has accepted a proposal in that regard put forward by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, the official website of the ministry said on Friday.

In a decree in June 2016, Zarif appointed Qassemi as Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman and head of the Center for Public and Media Diplomacy.

Qassemi has served as the Iranian ambassador to Ireland, Italy and Spain, the Iranian accredited ambassador to Malta, the head of Foreign Ministry’s Commonwealth Department, the director general for the Foreign Ministry's Western Europe Department and the deputy head for international studies at the Center for Strategic Research, which is affiliated with Iran's Expediency Council.

His appointment came after the French embassy said in a Tweet on Wednesday that Philippe Thiebaud will take up the role of France’s top diplomat in Tehran “in the coming weeks.”

The move by Tehran and Paris to name new ambassadors will end a six-month absence.

SS