Ahmadinejad’s Special Representatives: What is their mission?

Ali Khorram, Iran’s former representative to the United Nations comments on these appointments for Iranian Diplomacy:

Special representatives, as the term implies, are appointed by the president for ‘special’ issues, namely those that are of prime importance for the president. Nonetheless, the representative’s function is in line with the diplomatic agenda of the foreign ministry. Traditionally, such representatives are selected from the pool of seasoned diplomats, since their jobs demand that they be more efficient than ordinary diplomats. (For instance, during the war between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, then the president of the Islamic Republic, appointed his special representative for the conflict.) The Appointment of Akhoundzadeh—who is now serving as the Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs—as the President’s Special Representative on Caspian Affairs is a good decision. 

However, it seems that for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the primary factor for the appointment of his special representatives has been one of ‘trust’. This may be in contradiction with convention, but it may facilitate decision-making and the taking of measures in an area such that they satisfy the president’s intentions. That said, the appointment of special representatives should not create a sense that the president has little faith in his foreign minister, or believes that the diplomatic apparatus lacks required efficiency. 

In 1981, I was the Iranian president’s [then Ayatollah Khamenei] Special Representative in negotiations with the Peace Committee of the Conference of Islamic Organization –which was formed to strike a peace deal between Iran and Iraq. The committee included the late Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Ahmed Sekou Toure, president of Guinea, and the presidents of Gambia and Senegal. I was received by these leaders as the president’s special representative, not the ambassador, and this position facilitated our negotiations. Our private meetings gave me a chance to inform the Iranian president and the committee about the ideas and opinions of each other side. Nonetheless, my mission was in full coordination with the policies of the foreign ministry. Former President Mohammad Khatami also appointed special representatives, such as Dr. Mohammad Sadr, Deputy Foreign Minister in the late 1990s. 

But as I’ve noted, the appointment of a special representative should not imply mistrust towards the diplomatic apparatus; rather, it must show that the president is trying to add ‘weight’ to a certain issue. A special representative should have clear responsibilities. Appointments of special representatives for Afghanistan and the Caspian Sea have been made before. However, selecting people to serve in similar positions on Asian or Middle East affairs requires further elaboration. Is the representative supposed to replace the foreign ministry in these areas? Currently, Ali Fathollahi is the Deputy Foreign Minister for Asian Affairs. Is Hamid Baqa’ee going to replace him, or supplement his work and responsibilities? There are ambiguities in these appointments that need to be clarified.