Profile; Morteza Rahmani-Movahed, Iranian Ambassador to New Zealand

Iran's ambassador to New Zealand, His Excellency, Mr Morteza Rahmani-Movahed is an interesting study.



Born in 1959 in Tehran, Mr Rahmani-Movahed holds a BA in politics and speaks Persian, English and German.

In 1989/90 Rahmani-Movahed was an "expert" in the information system division of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Austrian desk officer of the department's Western Europe Division.

From 1990 to 1995 Rahmani-Movahed served as First Secretary and Communication Officer at the Embassy of Islamic Republic of Iran in Bonn.

This was the period during which four Iranianian dissidents were assassinated in Germany in the infamous 1992 Mykonos restaurant incident. In 1997, after a German court found that Iranian agents were behind the killings, the Islamic Republic broke diplomatic relations with Germany

Mr Rahmani-Movahed was directly linked to controversy surrounding another murder of an Iranian dissident in Bonn that year.

According to a United Nations report;


In early August 1992, Mr. Fereidoun Farokhzad-Araghi, an Iranian poet, movie actor and showman, was stabbed to death in his home at Bonn, Germany, allegedly by Iranian government agents.

After the 1979 Islamic revolution, he was imprisoned and then released and finally escaped from the country. Some four years ago, he began producing a one-hour weekly radio programme for the radio station "Voice of the Flag of Freedom Organization of Iran".

He had reported to this organization that Dr. Javad Ghodssi had warned him about his anti-regime activities. Mr. Ali Gholami, allegedly an agent of the secret police, and Mr. Morteza Rahmani-Movahhed had reportedly also threatened to kill him if he would not collaborate with the regime. Mr. Farokhzad-Araghi took part in a film, Vienna my Love, which was considered anti-Islamic by some Iranian authorities.

On 11 November 1992, the Special Representative addressed a letter to the Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations Office at Geneva requesting his Government to provide any information it might be able to on the investigation into the above-mentioned crime.

On 5 January 1993, the Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations Office at Geneva addressed a letter to the Special Representative stating the following: "In the case of Mr. Fereidoun Farokhazad-Araghi, investigations have not furnished any proof of participation of Iranian officials in the assassination".

The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran in its reply of 24 November 1992, stated the following:

"According to the German police investigations, the murderer of Feridoun Farokhzad was a homosexual and his motivation was sex-related, not a political matter. Although the above information has not been proved and the investigations continue, the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Bonn has announced its readiness to collaborate with judicial and police authorities.

At the same time, it has demanded urgent measures to identify Farokhzad's murderer or murderers. The person who killed Farokhzad is most assuredly an opponent of the Iranian regime. Mr. Farokhzad condemned the Mojahedin's collaboration with Saddam in a meeting held in Canada, and a number of Iranians who gathered there had joined him in deeming them Saddam's mercenaries and spies".

To my knowledge, Mr Farokhazad-Araghi's killer or killers were never found.

From 1995 to 1997 Mr Rahmani-Movahed served as Director for the Secretariat of trilateral cooperation with Central Asian Republics.

In 1998/1999 he was Director for External Trade and the Non-oil Export Directorate.

From 1999 to 2003 to Mr Rahmani-Movahed served as Counsel General of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Shanghai. While in Shanghai, Mr Rahmani-Movahed studied and wrote on the emerging and highly significant Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

From 2003 to 2006 he was Director, Second directorate of the Commonwealth of Independent States (Central Asia).


In November 2006, Mr Rahmani-Movahed was appointed as the Islamic Republic of Iran's ambassador to New Zealand.

From the Islamic Republic News Agency

According to the Foreign Ministry's press department, Movahed's appointment was ratified by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad following a proposal by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.

Movahed's previous positions included head of commonwealth of independent states bureau, Iranian consul to Shanghai, the chief of foreign trade office at Foreign Ministry, and tripartite cooperation secretary.

Clearly Mr Rahmani-Movahed is a high flier. His positions re the Commonwealth of Independent States, China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation leave little doubt of that.

This, combined with his media and communications experience and the alleged incident in Germany point to connections to Iranian intelligence, if not outright membership.

There is nothing new in Iran appointing intelligence operatives to ambassadorships. The October 2006 appointment of well known terrorist/intelligence agent Alizera Mo'ayeri as ambassador to the UN European HQ in Geneva is a case in point.

Why would a man used to dealing with Germany, Russia's vassals in Central Asia and China, be sent to comparitively insignificant New Zealand?

Surely a question worthy of our brave mainstream media?