Iran's Araqchi aims to reprise role as nuclear dealmaker

DUBAI, Feb 26 - The son of an Iranian carpet merchant from Isfahan, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi has compared the country's negotiating style to the bartering of the bazaar, an approach requiring "patience and great time".

But time may not be on his side as the veteran diplomat faces the most critical negotiations of his decades-long career, seeking to reach a nuclear deal to avert military action threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump.

Araqchi, Iran's top diplomat since 2024, played a key role in negotiations that led to Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers - the agreement torn up by Trump in 2018.

Political insiders say he enjoys the full confidence of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, describing him as one of the Islamic Republic's most powerful foreign ministers yet.

Iran's clerical establishment appears confident in his ability to play its hand with deftness and guile, as U.S. forces build up in the Middle East just eight months since they bombed Iranian nuclear sites.

Writing in his 2024 book "The Power of Negotiation", Araqchi noted that the Iranians' negotiating approach was commonly referred to as "the style of the bazaar", meaning "continuous and persistent bargaining". He described in a footnote memories of his late mother's bartering skill.

But he also cautioned against overplaying your hand. "When you sell snow under the sun, bargaining more than necessary is a loss," he wrote, in an Arabic translation of the book.

MILITARY BUILDUP 'CANNOT PRESSURIZE US'

Araqchi cultivated a reputation as a master of tough negotiation during the talks over Iran's nuclear programme over a decade ago. Under that deal, Iran agreed tight restrictions on its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

Western diplomats involved in those talks have described him as serious, technically knowledgeable and straightforward.

He led Iran's delegation in ultimately unsuccessful talks with the United States last year, ahead of the U.S. strikes.

The mild-mannered Araqchi joined Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution as a teenager and fought in the 1980s Iran-Iraq war before embarking on a diplomatic career.

An insider who has known Araqchi for years described him as calm and patient, yet combative and resilient.

On Sunday, Araqchi said he believed there was still a good chance for "a diplomatic solution based on a win-win game".

He said in an interview with CBS News' "Face the Nation": "So there is no need for any military buildup," adding the military buildup "cannot pressurize us".

KEEPS DISTANCE FROM 'POLITICAL FRAYS AND INFIGHTING'

Trump has expressed frustration with negotiators' failure to reach a deal. "They want to make a deal, but we haven't heard those secret words 'We will never have a nuclear weapon'," Trump said in his State of the Union speech on Tuesday.

Iran has always denied seeking the atom bomb.

Araqchi was the point man for ultimately unsuccessful efforts to resurrect the 2015 deal during U.S. President Joe Biden's 2021-25 administration, until he was replaced with a hardliner.

Soon afterwards, he was named secretary of Iran's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations - a key body advising Khamenei, pulling him into the inner orbit of Iran's ultimate authority.

Born in Tehran in 1962 to a wealthy religious merchant family, Araqchi was only 17 when the Islamic Revolution washed over Iran and filled many of its youth with radical fervour.

Inspired by the ousting of the U.S.-backed Shah's dynastic regime and the promise of a new future, he enlisted in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran's military vanguard, to fight in the 1980-88 war with Iraq.

He joined the foreign ministry in 1989 and served as ambassador in Finland from 1999 to 2003 and Japan from 2007 to 2011 before becoming foreign ministry spokesman in 2013.

He obtained a doctorate in politics from the University of Kent in Britain and was appointed deputy foreign minister in 2013.

A devout Muslim, Araqchi has served under presidents whose instincts have ranged from pragmatic to hardline.

Despite being a political insider with close ties to Khamenei, Araqchi has kept himself distant from "political frays and infighting" between factions, according to a senior Iranian official.

"He has good relations with the Supreme Leader, the Revolutionary Guards and all political factions in Iran," the official said. REUTERS