Iran's former interim foreign minister, Ali Bagheri Kani, has been appointed as a new member and secretary of Iran's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations (SCFR), the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.

Kamal Kharrazi, the head of the council, signed a decree on Saturday, thereby appointing Bagheri Kani to the position of secretary of the SCFR. 

Outgoing secretary Abbas Araghchi succeeded Bagheri Kani in his position as foreign minister. 

Araghchi gained the confidence of the Islamic Consultative Assembly on August 21 after being nominated to the position by newly-elected President Masoud Pezeshkian.

It is worth noting that Bagheri Kani served as caretaker foreign minister after then-office-holder Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and then-President Ebrahim Raisi ascended to martyrdom in a horrific helicopter crash on May 19, 2024. 

Bagheri Kani served for four months as interim foreign minister, a period that has seen tumultuous world and regional events, as well as the assassination of martyr Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran by the Israeli regime. 

A few days after assuming office, Araghchi stressed that Iran reserves the right to respond to the Israeli assassination of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month.

In a phone conversation with his French counterpart Stephane Sejourne, Araghchi condemned Haniyeh's assassination as a violation of Iran’s territorial integrity, stressing that his country maintains the right to retaliate against this "terror act".

He also urged France and other Western countries to hold the Israeli occupation regime accountable for being the main instigator of the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip.

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