Rostam Ghasemi ( fa, رستم قاسمی; 5 May 1964 – 8 December 2022) was an Iranian military officer and

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

politician who was the Minister of Roads and Urban Development from 25 August 2021 to 22 November 2022. He was Minister of Petroleum from 3 August 2011 to 15 August 2013.

Early life and education

Ghasemi was born on 5 May 1964 in Sargah village,

Mohr County Mohr County ( fa, شهرستان مُهر) is in Fars province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, ...

, Fars province. His father was a businessman and politician, and served as the governor of the Fars Province from 1980 to 1988. He graduated from

Sharif University of Technology Sharif University of Technology (SUT; fa, دانشگاه صنعتی شریف) is a public research university in Tehran, Iran. It is widely considered as the nation's most prestigious and leading institution for science, technology, engineering, ...

, studying civil engineering.

Career

Ghasemi joined the

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...

(IRGC) in

Kharg Island Kharg or Khark Island ( fa, جزیره خارک) is a continental island in the Persian Gulf belonging to Iran. The island is located off the coast of Iran and northwest of the Strait of Hormuz. Its total area is . Administered by the adjacent ...

in 1979. He participated in the Iran-Iraq War. After the war, he joined the Khatam-al Anbia troops in

Bushehr Bushehr, Booshehr or Bushire ( fa, بوشهر ; also romanised as ''Būshehr'', ''Bouchehr'', ''Buschir'' and ''Busehr''), also known as Bandar Bushehr ( fa, ; also romanised as ''Bandar Būshehr'' and ''Bandar-e Būshehr''), previously Antioc ...

, the Guards' engineering and construction company. In 1996, he was named head of the IRGC navy's Nouh base. Ghasemi became deputy commander of the troops in 2001. He was the chair of the IRGC-affiliated Khatam-al Anbiya Construction Headquarters from 2007 to 2011. He retired from the military in August 2011. On 26 July 2011, he was nominated as oil minister by

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ( fa, محمود احمدی‌نژاد, Mahmūd Ahmadīnežād ), born Mahmoud Sabbaghian ( fa, محمود صباغیان, Mahmoud Sabbāghyān, 28 October 1956),

to succeed

Masoud Mir Kazemi Masoud Mir Kazemi ( fa, مسعود میرکاظمی; born 1960) is an Iranian conservative politician and the current Vice President of Iran and head of Plan and Budget Organization. He was a member of the Parliament of Iran from Tehran distric ...

. He was approved by the parliament on 3 August 2011, being the fourth oil minister in the Ahmedinejad government. He received 216 for votes of the 246 Majlis members. He was the president of the

OPEC The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC, ) is a cartel of countries. Founded on 14 September 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela), it has, since 1965, been headquart ...

for 2011, despite being on the US, EU and Australian sanction list since 2010. Ghasemi's tenure as oil minister ended on 15 August 2013 and he was replaced by

Bijan Namdar Zanganeh Bijan Namdar Zangeneh ( fa, بيژن نامدار زنگنه; born 21 September 1952) is an Iranian politician, who served as minister, at different cabinets after the Islamic Revolution, for 30 years. He lately served as Minister of Petroleum f ...

in the post. Shortly after leaving office Ghasemi was appointed advisor to Defense Minister

Hossein Dehghan Hossein Dehghani Poudeh ( fa, حسین دهقانی پوده; born 2 March 1957), commonly known as Hossein Dehghan, is a former IRGC air force officer with the rank of brigadier general and the former minister of defense of Iran. He was designat ...

on 22 August. Ghasemi was seen in a photograph dated 2011 in Malaysia cuddling a woman without hijab alleged to be his non-married girlfriend, in conflict with the laws of Islamic Republic of Iran's government during a time when he was the minister of oil, a cabinet position in that government. On 8 December 2022, Ghasemi died of illness in China, aged 58.

References

1964 births 2022 deaths Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps brigadier generals Oil ministers of Iran Popular Front of Islamic Revolution Forces politicians Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel of the Iran–Iraq War Iranian individuals subject to the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions Sharif University of Technology alumni Quds Force personnel People from Fars Province {{Iran-politician-stub