Iran’s president presents cabinet to parliament for vote of confidence

EghtesadOnline: Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has submitted the list of his nominees for ministerial posts to the Parliament (Majlis).

News ID: ۷۷۸۴۷۵

19 August 2017

The list, which was presented to the legislature on Tuesday, includes the proposed picks to head 17 out of 18 ministries, according to PressTV.

The nominee for the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology is yet to be presented to the Iranian parliament.

President Rouhani has changed eight of his ministers from the former cabinet.

Some of the ministers who have retained their portfolios in the list are Mohammad Javad Zarif as foreign minister, Bijan Namdar-Zangeneh as minister of petroleum, Mahmoud Alavi as intelligence minister, Hassan Ghazizadeh Hashemi as minister of health, and Abdul-Reza Rahmani Fazli as interior minister.

Some of the new picks include Brigadier General Amir Hatami to head the Defense Ministry and Seyyed Alireza Avaie to head the Ministry of Justice.

It was not clear when the nominee for the Ministry of Science would be named.

Separately on Tuesday, the Iranian chief executive appointed Es’haq Jahangiri as the first vice president of his new administration. Jahangiri held that same position under Rouhani’s first term.

In May, Rouhani won re-election in a landslide after securing 57 percent of the votes.

On August 3, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei formally endorsed Rouhani as president for the second term. Two days later, Rouhani took the oath of office at the parliament.

Since the swearing-in ceremony, he had two weeks’ time to present his cabinet to the legislative body for a vote of confidence.

The parliament will begin holding debates on the nominees next Tuesday, with the Iranian president being allowed to defend his cabinet picks.