Former Iranian deputy foreign minister dies from coronavirus

Former Iranian deputy foreign minister Hussein Sheikholeslam died after contracting the Covid-19 virus. The 67-year-old diplomat died early Friday morning in a hospital in the Iranian capital, Tehran, the Tasnim news agency reported.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif described him in a press release as a still loyal friend and diplomat.

Sheikholeslam was deputy foreign minister throughout the 1980s, then Iran’s ambassador to Syria, a member of parliament and, most recently, a foreign policy adviser to Speaker Ali Larijani. In Iran, more than 3,500 people have been infected with a coronavirus and 107 have died.