Hamid Aboutalebi

Hamid Aboutalebi حمید ابوطالبی
Ambassador of Iran to the United Nations
Assuming office 25 July 2014
President	Hassan Rouhani
Succeeding	Mohammad Khazaee
Ambassador of Iran to Australia
In office 2 September 2003 – 7 November 2006
President	Mohammad Khatami Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Ambassador of Iran to Belgium and The European Union
In office 1 September 1995 – 1 September 2000
President	Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Mohammad Khatami
Preceded by	Mohammad Reza Bakhtiari
Succeeded by	Abolghassem Delfi
Ambassador of Iran to Italy
In office 1 September 1988 – 1 September 1992
President	Ali Khamenei Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Succeeded by	Majid Hedayatzade
Personal details
Born	(1957-06-16) June 16, 1957 Tehran, Iran
Alma mater	University of Tehran

Hamid Aboutalebi (Persian: حمید ابوطالبی, born 16 June 1957 in Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian diplomat and ambassador. He will be Permanent Representative of Iran to the United Nations from 25 July 2014, succeeding Mohammad Khazaee. Aboutalebi was previously ambassador of Iran to Australia, the European Union, Belgium, Italy and also political director general to Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Professional Background

Hamid Aboutalebi, obtained his Ph.D. in historical sociology from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in 1999, after having completed master's degrees in sociology (from Sorbonne Nouvelle University, Paris) and in the history of Islamic civilization and culture (from Tehran University). Aboutalebi also earned his bachelor's degree in sociology from Tehran University.

Aboutalebi is a member of numerous Iranian organizations, councils and committees, including:

• The Scientific Board for Foreign Policy of Center for Strategic Research (C.S.R)
• Member of the Strategic Board for Foreign Policy of C.S.R
• Director for the Asia Studies Group at Foreign Policy Department of C.S.R
• Director for the Iran's Foreign Policy Studies Group at Foreign Policy Department of C.S.R
• The Scientific Council of the Great Islamic Encyclopedia
• Dean of the Department for Scientific Research of the Great Islamic Encyclopedia
• Author and editor of the Great Islamic Encyclopedia
• The Strategic Planning Council of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Member of the Planning and Programming Council of Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
• Member of the Economic Coordination Committee of Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
• Member of the Policy Planning Board of the Center of Strategic Studies for the Presidential Office, (C.S.S)
• Member of Advisory Board of Iranian Review of Foreign Affairs (IRFA)

Aboutalebi's professional publications include Basic Challenges of U.S Foreign Policy towards Iran (2009), Rocky Mountains of Nuclear Extremism (2009), Turkey: Modern Diplomacy and New Ottoman Caliphate (2009), and New Challenges of Iran Foreign Policy towards U.S. (2010). Aboutalebi has also published a book on anthropology of ethics, Anthropology of Ethics; First Volume of Philosophy of Social Ethics in 2013.

Controversy

Hamid Aboutalebi has been identified as one of the kidnappers involved in the Iran hostage crisis in which of a number of American diplomats from the US embassy in Tehran were held captive in 1979. Aboutalebi has denied participating in the takeover of the US embassy and asserts that he was merely a student brought in to translate and negotiate following the occupation. Aboutalebi was a member of the Muslim Student Followers of the Imam's Line, comprising students from several major science and technology universities of Tehran, which occupied the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

Due to his links with the Iran Hostage Crisis, his appointment as ambassador to the UN has been opposed by numerous US lawmakers and diplomats, some of whom have asked the US Department of State to deny his application for a visa.