Iranian President Names Cabinet Of Hard-Liners
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TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s new president nominated a Cabinet yesterday that has hard-liners in all key ministries and is likely to lead to more confrontation in the country’s dispute with the Washington and Europe over its nuclear program.
Not one of the 21 ministers that President Ahmadinejad nominated is a supporter of pro-democratic reform in Iran. The nominees, who have to be approved by parliament, are widely seen as followers of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a noted conservative who has the final say on all state matters.
The proposed foreign minister is Manouchehr Mottaki, a conservative lawmaker who has criticized Iran’s nuclear negotiations with the Europeans, saying the country should adopt a tougher position and make no concessions.
Several other proposed ministers are either members of the Revolutionary Guards, or have a history of cooperating with the Guards and security agencies, which take hard-line positions on Iran’s nuclear program.
If new Cabinet is confirmed, it is expected to adopt more aggressive positions with the Europeans, who have been trying to persuade Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment program to avoid being taken to the U.N. Security Council by the United States. Washington alleges that Iran has a secret plan to build nuclear bombs – a charge Tehran denies.
A former hard-line deputy intelligence minister, Mostafa Pourmohammadi, was named as interior minister. Mr. Ahmadinejad named as intelligence minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehei, a cleric whom reformist journalists regard as an unyielding opponent of press freedom.
The proposed Cabinet contained only one member of the outgoing government of former President Khatemi, a reformist who tried to moderate the Islamic social code and build bridges to the West. The centrist politician Mohammad Rahmati remained as transportation minister.
“All those who worked against Khatemi’s reformist agenda have now been nominated to sit in the government,” the reformist writer Ali Reza Rajaei said. “Most of them are either former military commanders or people in close touch with security agencies.”
Political analyst Saeed Madani agreed, saying that the appointment of people associated with security forces to executive positions would slow Iran’s progress.
“The list means Iran will behave more secretly in its dealings, both with the nation and the international community,” he said, adding it would also put greater emphasis on security.
There are no women in the nominated Cabinet. Mr. Khatemi, who was president from 1997 until this month, did not appoint women to his Cabinets, but he appointed two women as vice presidents.
Mr. Ahmadinejad named his close ally Ali Saeedlou as oil minister. Mr. Saeedlou was Mr. Ahmadinejad’s deputy when he served as mayor of Tehran until the June elections.
Mr. Ahmadinejad has promised to purge the hierarchy in Iran’s oil administration. Outgoing Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh was at odds with some of the hard-liners who backed the new president in his election campaign.