Iran president appoints vice president for economy, chief of staff

EghtesadOnline: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has appointed new vice president for economic affairs and his chief of staff.

News ID: ۷۷۸۶۵۵

21 August 2017

In a decree on Sunday, Rouhani named Mohammad Nahavandian as vice president for economic affairs based on Article 124 of the Iranian Constitution and given his commitment and past record.

The president wished Nahavandian success in serving the Islamic establishment and the noble Iranian nation in accordance with the principles of law obedience, moderation and the new administration's code of ethics, according to PressTV.

Born in 1954, Nahavandian served as the chief of staff of President Rouhani during his first term in office.

Meanwhile, in another decree, Rouhani appointed Mahmoud Vaezi as his new chief of staff to promote the administration's priorities in view of his valuable experience.

Vaezi previously served as the minister of information and communication technology.

Born in 1952, Vaezi obtained his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Sacramento State University and San Jose State University and was a PhD student in telecommunications engineering at Louisiana State University, which he left unfinished. He holds M.A. and Ph.D in International Relations from universities of Tehran and Warsaw, respectively.

All but one of Rouhani's proposed ministers, the nominee for the ministry of energy, won the Iranian parliament's vote of confidence on Sunday. The president has not presented his nominee for the post of the minister of science, research and technology.

Rouhani won re-election back in May. He took the oath of office earlier this month after being formally endorsed as the Iranian chief executive by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

Rouhani names ministries’ caretakers

In separate decrees, the Iranian president also named Sattar Mahmoudi as the caretaker for the Ministry of Energy and Zia Hashemi as caretaker for Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.

Under Article 135 of the Iranian Constitution, the president must appoint caretakers for the ministries whose ministers have resigned or been dismissed, and the caretaker ministers can serve in their posts for a maximum period of three months.