Mohammad Saber Ismail

Dr. Mohammad Saber Ismail (born 1 July 1947 ) is an Iraqi Kurdish diplomat and politician from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan. He was Iraq's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva from 2013 to 2016. He was nominated by the PUK in August 2018 as their candidate to succeed Fuad Masum as President of Iraq.

Background Ismail graduated from the University of Baghdad in 1969 with a degree in Physics. He worked for over 20 years as a university researcher and professor, receiving a doctorate from Stockholm University in nuclear physics in 1988. He is married to the sister-in-law of the late President of Iraq and founder of the PUK, Jalal Talabani.

Political career Ismail served as a representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government in France from 1993 to 2001 and in the United States from 2001 to 2004.

Ismail was the Iraqi Ambassador to China from 2004 to 2010. On his return to Iraq, he became the head of the Asia and Australia Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.