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Is one of Iran's top diplomats a member of Quds Force?

A commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed that the country's deputy foreign minister and chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi is a member of the IRGC's elite Quds Force.

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi attends a nuclear deal review meeting in Tehran August 9, 2015. Dozens of companies tied to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, a military force commanding a powerful industrial empire with huge political influence, will win sanctions relief under a nuclear deal agreed with world powers. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi/TIMA ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DAT
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi attends a nuclear deal review meeting in Tehran, Aug. 9, 2015. — REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi

Abbas Araghchi, whose official title is deputy minister for legal and international affairs at Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is more signficiantly one of Iran's senior nuclear negotiators. While Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif played the lead role in the nuclear talks and received the majority of media coverage, Araghchi and his American and European counterparts played important roles in bringing about the landmark nuclear deal.

The English-speaking diplomat, who holds a doctorate from the University of Kent in Britain, has a well-known record as a diplomat in Iran's Foreign Ministry dating back 20 years. However, in a recent interview with an Iranian magazine, a former commander from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has introduced a controversial — and unverified — new aspect to Araghchi's background.

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