Reshuffle in Rouhani’s Cabinet?

Rooz Online

A day after the director of the influential state Management and Planning organization, Mohammad-Bagher Nobakht who is also Rouhani administration’s spokesperson announced spoke about changes in the cabinet, media outlets published reports about minister of Industries and Mines Ishaq Jahangiri’s efforts to change the minister of Industries and the minister of Sports and Youth.

A website close to Iranian reformers, Entekhab, wrote that Jahangiri had been vigorously trying in recent weeks to change two cabinet ministers: Reza Veysi was planned to replace Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh as the new minister of Industries and Mahmoud Islamian to replace Mahmoud Goodarzi as the minister of Sports and Youth Affairs. The report also wrote that Islamian did not demonstrate a desire to lead the ministry of sports and preferred to lead the ministry of industries. While the source of this news was missing, government newspaper carried the story, strengthening this possibility.

Etemad newspaper wrote about changes in the cabinet as well. “It appears that Mohammad-Reza Nematzadeh, Mahmoud Goodarzi and Masood Soltanifar are the front runners to leave Rouhani’s cabinet,” it wrote. According to this newspaper the head of Iran’s National Heritage Organization too was on the list of goers. Soltanifar was elevated to head the organization, who also holds the post of vice-president, resigned from his post unexpectedly.

A few days earlier Nobakht had said, “It is natural for Rouhani to evaluate his own performance and those of administrators which could necessitate some changes.” While he did qualify his remarks by saying he did not know of any shuffles, this was enough to start the search for possible changes in the cabinet.

Basirat website, close to the influential Revolutionary Guards also wrote of possible changes in the cabinet and predicted that the minister of interior (Rahmani Fazli), the minister of roads and urban development (Abbas Akhoondi), minister of sports (Mahmoud Goodarzi) and the minister of welfare (Ali Rabiei) were the first to go. It wrote the vice-president for parliamentarian affairs (Majid Ansari) and the head of the atomic energy organization (Ali Akbar Salehi) too could be on the list. This newspaper predicts that Mohammad Foruzande and Majid Ansari will lead the ministry of interior Ali Abdolalizadeh will lead the ministry of roads, Kioomars Hashemi or Mohsen Mehr Alizadeh or Mohammad Shariatmadari will led the ministry of sports while Morteza Bank will led the ministry of welfare. And finally it wrote that Rahmani Fazli could go to the president’s office as deputy president for parliamentary affairs and Jaafar Tofighi or Ali Abbaspour could lead the atomic energy organization.

The changes that these newspapers predict are not limited to cabinet posts or presidential deputies; they also write about changes of governors in the provinces.

Right from the beginning, reformers have been critical of some of Rouhani’s appointments such as that of Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli to head the ministry of interior – who they say is an ideologue principlist belonging to the opposing faction. They specifically argued that because of Fazli’s close ties to Majlis speaker Ali Larijani, the upcoming elections in the provinces would be troublesome for Rouhani because the governors are recommended by Fazli and consequentially they are sympathetic to the hardliners rather than reformers. Even Ali Motahari, the controversial Majlis deputy had mentioned this problem.

Some independent analysts have said, however, that even though Fazli was a close associate of the opposing faction, his ministry had met 70 to 80 percent of the expectations of the reformers.