TEHRAN – Mehdi Safari, Iran’s current special envoy on the Caspian Sea affairs, has been appointed as Tehran’s ambassador to China.

First, Safari was named Tehran’s ambassador to London, but on the president’s recommendation he will soon be leaving Tehran for Beijing.
Safari, a well-experienced diplomat, is the country’s former deputy foreign minister for Asia-Pacific affairs and Iran’s current special envoy on the Caspian Sea affairs.
Safari had also served as Iran’s envoy to Moscow.
Some analysts see the appointment as a carefully-thought move by Iran which is entangled in a conflict with the West over its nuclear program.
The veto-wielding China has strongly resisted new sanctions against Iran. Even on Tuesday Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi maintained that sanctions weren’t the solution to disagreements over Iran’s nuclear program and that more talks were the way forward.
“Sanctions do not provide a fundamental solution to the Iranian nuclear issue. Ultimately, this issue has to be appropriately resolved through peaceful negotiations,” Yang said at a joint news conference with Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Miliband following their discussions in Beijing