The Iranian Foreign Ministry named one of its top diplomats, Deputy Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, as the country’s ambassador to the Sultanate of Oman back in April 2016. While the appointment was seen as a move by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to limit Amir-Abdollahian’s role in regional issues, the deputy minister was to assume a role in one of the most important and close Gulf nations to Tehran, a venue for the exchange of messages with the region and the world. However, the diplomat, who enjoys strong links with the supreme leader’s office, turned down the offer, and in a few weeks, departed the Foreign Ministry to assume another role: assistant to Ali Larijani, then the parliament speaker and the man who oversaw negotiating Iran’s strategic pact with China.

Many of Iran’s allies in the region regarded Amir-Abdollahian as the most prominent diplomat of the “resistance axis.” His personal relationship with Hezbollah’s chief in Lebanon Hasan Nasrallah saw the two men meeting on some occasions until dawn, per Amir-Abdollahian’s account. The diplomat and Qasem Soleimani, the late top commander in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, also had a close personal relationship. Amir-Abdollahian's latest book on Syria, “Sobhe Sham” or "The Morning of Syria, was written upon the request of slain Quds Force commander.

Iran’s new foreign minister appears to be the very opposite of Zarif, his predecessor. While the latter spent most of his career in the United States developing a strong command of English and a deep understanding of the West, the successor’s career has been spent in the Middle East. He is aware of the nuanced cultural differences between people of the region, from the least details such as who prefers tea to coffee to the major sensitivities that could cause conflicts.

But like Zarif, Amir-Abdollahian was among the first Iranian diplomats to openly talk with American counterparts over a round table in 2007 in Baghdad. He also assumed the role of Iran’s ambassador to Bahrain from 2007 until 2011, when he was appointed as director of the Persian Gulf section at the Foreign Ministry, and a year later as deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs. It was in that position that he made his best contacts with officials and counterparts from neighboring countries.