TEHRAN— At the suggestion of Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and with the approval of President Hassan Rouhani, Mehdi Sobhani was appointed as the new ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Syria.

Mehdi Sobhani has previously served as Director-General of the Foreign Ministry Office of Strategic Planning and Monitoring, Consul General of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Karachi, Pakistan, Deputy Director-General of West Asia at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Deputy Ambassador to Turkmenistan and Ukraine.

The former Iranian ambassador to Syria was Javad Torkabadi.

SA/PM