Former Iranian minister Kordan dies

Former Iranian interior minister Ali Kordan has died at the age of 51 from an incurable type of blood cancer at a hospital in Tehran.

Kordan had long been struggling with multiple myeloma, the cancer of a type of white blood cells found in the bone marrow and known as plasma cells.

Kordan, who had became really weak because of receiving chemotherapy agents, was hospitalized in the intensive care unit of Masih Daneshvari Hospital in Tehran due to flu-like symptoms. He was then diagnosed with A/H1N1 flu.

He thereafter developed intracranial hemorrhage and was dependent on the mechanical ventilation for breathing during the past few days.

A former revolutionary guard, Kordan was appointed deputy oil minister in around October 2007. He had turned down the offer of the same position in 2006.

He served briefly as the minister of the interior between August and November 2008, when the Iranian parliament voted to dismiss him following his impeachment.