Iranian OPEC governor who fell into a two-week coma after suffering brain haemorrhage dies aged 68
- Veteran politician Hossein Kazempour-Ardebili said to have died this morning
- Iran’s oil ministry announced the 68-year-old’s death in a short statement
- He was in a coma in a Tehran hospital for two weeks after a brain haemorrhage
- Fellow ministers paid to tribute to Ardebili describing him as a ‘reliable adviser’
Iran’s OPEC governor Hossein Kazempour-Ardebili who fell into coma for two weeks after a brain haemorrhage has died.
The country’s oil ministry announced the 68-year-old died in a short statement: ‘Kazempour-Ardebili, who had gone into a coma over a brain haemorrhage two weeks ago in a hospital in Tehran, has passed away.’
The veteran politician is believed to have died this morning, according to state news agency IRNA.
Iran’s oil ministry announced veteran politician Hossein Kazempour-Ardebili’s death in a short statement
He served as the Islamic republic’s amabassador to Japan from 1990 before he was appointed as governor to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in 1995.
Iran’s oil and foreign ministers offered their condolences in separate statements.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Ardebili was an ‘intelligent and firm defender of national interests’ and a ‘reliable adviser’ for Iranian authorities.
A founding member of the OPEC oil cartel, Iran sits on the world’s fourth-biggest oil reserves and second-largest gas reserves.
But its economy has been battered by sanctions imposed by the United States after President Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018.