Esmail Baghaei | |
|---|---|
| اسماعیل بقایی | |
| Baghaei in 2025 | |
| Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran | |
| Assumed office 2 October 2024 | |
| Appointed by | Abbas Araghchi |
| President | Masoud Pezeshkian |
| Preceded by | Nasser Kanaani |
| Permanent Representative of Iran to the United Nations Office at Geneva | |
| In office 14 August 2018 –28 September 2022 | |
| President | Hassan Rouhani Ebrahim Raisi |
| Preceded by | Mohsen Naziri Asl |
| Succeeded by | Ali Bahreyni |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Esmail Baghaei Hamaneh 28 May 1975 Yazd,Iran |
| Alma mater | University of Tehran Shahid Beheshti University School of International Relations |
Esmail Baghaei Hamaneh [a] (born 28 May 1975) is an Iranian diplomat who is the 14th and current Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran since 3 October 2024. [1] He has previously served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations Office in Geneva from 2018 to 2022. [2]
He was a PhD candidate in public international law at the University of Tehran,and first began his career at the Foreign Ministry in 2001 as a legal officer at the General Directorate for International Legal Affairs. [3] He attended the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 2021 as a representative of the Islamic Republic. He also served as a senior assistant to the foreign minister from 2022 to 2024.
Esmaeil Baghaei Hamaneh was born on 28 May 1975 in Yazd. He completed his bachelor's degree at the University of Tehran and then studied at Shahid Beheshti University and the School of International Relations,in two fields of "International Law" and "Diplomacy and International Organizations," and wrote his final theses on the "International Convention against Corruption" and "The International Legal Regime for the Prevention and Combating of Terrorism," respectively. He received his degree in 2000.
Baghaei has had experience working with newspapers since the 1990s,and from 1999 to 2000,he completed specialized journalism courses in institutions affiliated with the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
Baghaei began his career in the diplomatic apparatus in the early 2000s as a legal expert in the Department of Treaties and Public International Law. In this role,he was responsible for following up on international legal issues and dimensions related to terrorism and organized crime,as well as issues related to combating crime and criminal justice.
After nearly five years of working in the legal department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,Baghaei left for New York in December 2006 as Iran's representative to the Sixth (Legal) Committee of the United Nations General Assembly. During his tenure (2006-2010),in addition to serving as our country's representative on the United Nations Legal Committee,he was responsible for coordinating the Legal Committee of the Non-Aligned Movement. In 2009,Baghaei was elected as the deputy of the sixth committee from the West Asia region and was also responsible for managing many of the committee's discussions.
After returning from New York in early 2011,he was appointed first as Deputy Director and later as Head of the Department of Treaties and Public International Law,which lasted until 2015,after which he served as Senior Advisor to the Deputy Deputy for International Legal at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for three years.
Baghaei was appointed as Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations office in Geneva at the suggestion of then-Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in July 2018 and played an important role in advancing the country's international diplomacy in the face of the US maximum pressure policy. Experts consider Baghaei's service in Geneva as one of the most active and innovative periods of work of the Iranian mission in Geneva. Baghaei's activity in Geneva ended in September 2022,and after returning to Tehran,he continued to serve in the diplomatic apparatus as an advisor and assistant to then-Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
On 3 October 2024,the current foreign minister,Abbas Araghchi,appointed Baghaei as the spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.