Iran’s governor to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has passed away after suffering a brain hemorrhage and falling into a coma.
Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, 68, died at a hospital in capital Tehran on Saturday.
He was appointed as Iran’s representative to OPEC – the oil organization that accounts for about a third of world supply – in 1995 and served for 13 years.
Kazempour Ardebili once again became Iran’s governor to OPEC in 2013 and had held the post until he passed away.
In the early 1990s, Kazempour Ardebili had been Iran’s ambassador to Japan. He also served as the country's deputy foreign minister and deputy oil minister in the 1980s.
In separate messages, the Iranian petroleum and foreign ministers offered condolences on the death of Kazempour Ardebili.
Iran's Minister of Petroleum Bijan Zangenehsaid, “Nearly 23 years of close cooperation with Hossein Kazempour Ardebili placed me in a position where I can testify that he was a religious, educated, humble and very honorable man as well as a true and unassuming servant of the Iranian nation, who was loyal to the Islamic Republic and loved Iran, and its pride and progress was his constant concern.”
"He was a prominent diplomat who intelligently and vigorously defended our national interests at OPEC for more than three decades in the most difficult circumstances and despite all troubles,” he added.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also described Kazempor Ardebili as “a prominent and unique diplomat,” adding that his passing is “a great loss for the diplomatic community.”
Over the past four decades, Zatif said, Kazempour Ardebili had always been “a clever and strong defender of national interests and a trustworthy, precise and unequivocal advisor to the Islamic Republic officials.”