Iranian Representative to OPEC Dies From Brain Hemorrhage, Petroleum Ministry Says

TEHRAN (Sputnik) - Iran's OPEC Governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili has passed away following a brain haemorrhage, the Iranian Petroleum Ministry said on Saturday.

"Iran's OPEC Governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili died after a coma in a hospital in Tehran," the ministry said in a statement.

Both Petroleum Minister Bijan Zangeneh and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed their condolences over Kazempour's death.

"He was a prominent diplomat who defended our national interests intelligently and vigorously in OPEC for more than three decades, in the most difficult circumstances and in spite of all adversity," Zangeneh said, as quoted by the ministry.

Earlier in the month, he was reported to have fallen into a coma after suffering severe brain bleeding.

Kazempour served as the minister of commerce from 1980 to 1981 and worked as an ambassador to Japan from 1990 to 1995.

He was Tehran's representative to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries from 1995 to 2008, and then from 2013 until his demise.