Iranian parliament rejects qualifications of three Rohani's nominees

Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug. 15 / Trend, D. Khatinoglu, S. Isayev /

After four days of discussions, the 284 members (from 290 MPs) of parliament has made a decision on each of the nominees for country ministries' posts, state IRINN TV reported on August 15.

Minister of Defense - Hossein Dehghan
Former Deputy Minister of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics during Mohammad Khatami`s adminstration(1997 to 2005).

Minister of Information and Communication Technology - Mahmoud Vaezi
Adviser to Rouhani in his presidential campaign, former deputy foreign minister of Iran in Europe and American Countries Affairs.

Intelligence minister - Seyyed Mahmoud Alavi
Member of Iran's Assembly of Experts, Former MP (four consecutive terms).

Minister of Justice - Mostafa Pourmohammadi
Head of Iran's general inspectorate office, former interior minister. Pourmohammadi was prosecutor of the Revolutionary Court from 1979 to 1986.

Interior Minister - Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli
Director of the Supreme Audit Court, former Deputy Head at Supreme National Security Council.

Oil Minister - Bijan Namdar Zangeneh
Former Oil and Energy minister under previous Iranian presidents Mohammad Khatami and Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Ministrer of Economic Affairs and Finance - Ali Tayyebnia
Secretary of Economic Commission under previous Iranian presidents Mohammad Khatami and Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Ministry of Agriculture - Mahmoud Hojjati
Former Minister of Roads and Transportation in first and Agriculture in second term of Khatami`s presidency.

Minister of Foreign Affairs - Mohammad Javad Zarif
Former Permanent Representative of Iran to the UN.

Minister of Housing and Urban Development - Abbas Ahmad Akhondi
Former Minister of Housing and Urban Development (1993-1997).

Minister of Health and Medical Education - Hassan Hashemi
Secretary General of the Iranian Society of Ophthalmology.

Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance - Ali Jannati
Former Ambassador of Iran in Kuwait, son of Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati (the head of Iranian Guardian Council).

Minister of Cooperatives, Labour and Social Welfare - Ali Rabiee
advisor to former President Khatami(1997 to 2005) and Deputy of Rouhani in the Supreme National Security Council.

Energy minister - Hamid Chitchian
former Deputy Minister of Energy.

Industry, mining and trade minister: Mohammadreza Nematzadeh
Former minister of Industry and mining in the Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani`s administration (1989 to 1997). Also chaired Hassan Rouhani's presidential campaign, 2013.

Parliament did not approve the qualification of:

Minister of Education - Mohammad-Ali Najafi
Former Minister of Education in the cabinet of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of Center for Planning and Budget in the cabinet of Mohammad Khatami.

Minister of Science, Research and Technology - Jafar Nili Monfared
P.h.D. Degree in Electrical Engineering, former Deputy minister of Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.

Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports - Masoud Soltanifar
former Governor general of Gilan, Zanjan, and Markazi (Arak) provinces.

Hassan Rouhani won the presidential elections in Iran on June 14, securing over 50 percent of votes. He was officially inaugurated as Iran's next president on August 4.

The same day, Rouhani submitted a list of nominees for the parliament. He previously said that the nominees in the list have been carefully picked.

The parliament had 4 days to go through the list, to approve, or disapprove the nominees.