Cabinet of Iran

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The Cabinet of Iran (officially: Persian: دولت ايران, Government of Iran) is a formal body composed of government officials, ministers, chosen and led by a President. Its composition must be approved by a vote in the Parliament. According to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the President may dismiss members of the cabinet, but must do so in writing, and new appointees must again be approved by the Parliament. The cabinet meets weekly on Saturdays in Tehran. There may be additional meetings if circumstances require it. The president chairs the meetings.

History

From 1699 until 1907 the Iranian cabinet was led by Premiers who were appointed by the Shah of Iran.

The Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1905 led to the creation of the Persian Constitution of 1906 and the establishment of the Iranian parliament, whose members were elected from the general population. The position of premier was abolished and replaced by the Prime Minister of Iran. The constitution stipulated that all Prime Minister must be subject to a vote in parliament for both approval and removal.

During the period 1907 to 1951 all Prime Ministers were selected by the Shah and subject to a vote-of-confidence by the Iranian Parliament. From 1951 to 1953, the members of parliament elected the Prime Minister among themselves (the head of the party holding the majority of seats), through a vote-of-confidence. The Shah, as the head of state, then appointed the parliament's selection to the position of Prime Minister, in accordance with the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Following the removal of Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh via the 1953 Iranian coup d'état, this practice was abolished and the selection of Prime Minister reverted to the process in effect before 1951.

Following the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the position of Shah was removed as the head of state, effectively ending Iran's history of monarchy. Iran's new Islamic constitution stipulated that the President of Iran would nominate the Iranian cabinet, including the Prime Minister, which was to be approved by a vote-of-confidence in the Iranian parliament. The constitutional amendment of 1989 effectively ended the position of Prime Minister and transferred its powers to that of the president and vice president.

2009 appointments

President Ahmadinejad announced controversial ministerial appointments for his second term. Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei was briefly appointed as first vice president, but opposed by a number of Majlis members and by the intelligence minister, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i. Mashaei followed orders to resign. Ahmadinejad then appointed Mashaei as chief of staff, and fired Mohseni-Eje'i.[1]

On 26 July 2009, Ahmadinejad's government faced a legal problem after he sacked four ministers. Iran's constitution (Article 136) stipulates that, if more than half of its members are replaced, the cabinet may not meet or act before the Majlis approves the revised membership.[2] The Vice Chairman of the Majlis announced that no cabinet meetings or decisions would be legal, pending such a reapproval.[3]

The main list of 21 cabinet appointments was announced on 19 August 2009.[4] On 4 September, Parliament of Iran approved 18 of the 21 candidates and rejected three of them, including two women. Sousan Keshavarz, Mohammad Aliabadi, and Fatemeh Ajorlou were not approved by Parliament for the Ministries of Education, Energy, and Welfare and Social Security respectively. Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi is the first woman approved by Parliament as a minister in the Islamic Republic of Iran.[5]

2011 merges and dismissals

On 9 May, Ahmedinejad announced Ministries of Petroleum and Energy would merge, as would Industries and Mines with Commerce, and Welfare with Labour. On 13 May, he dismissed Masoud Mir Kazemi (Minister of Petroleum), Aliakbar Mehrabian (Minister Industry and Mines) and Sadeq Mahsouli (Minister of Welfare). On 15 May, he was announced he would be caretaker minister of the Petroleum Ministry.[6] From August 2009 to February 2013, a total of nine ministers in the cabinet was dismissed by the Majlis, the last of who was labor minister, Reza Sheykholeslam at the beginning of February 2013.[7]

Rouhani's cabinet

Hassan Rouhani was elected as President of Iran in 2013 presidential election and took office on 3 August 2013. He nominated his coalition cabinet members to the parliament for vote of confidence on the next day. 15 out of 18 designated ministers was confirmed by the parliament.

Cabinet members

President Rouhani chairs a cabinet meeting, 1 October 2015
Office Incumbent (Coa) Since
Presidency
PresidentHassan Rouhani (M)3 August 2013
First Vice PresidentEshaq Jahangiri (R)4 August 2013
Chief of StaffMohammad Nahavandian (P)4 August 2013
Ministers
AgriculturalMahmoud Hojjati (R)15 August 2013
CommunicationMahmoud Vaezi (M)15 August 2013
LabourAli Rabei (R)15 August 2013
CultureAli Jannati (M)15 August 2013
DefenseHossein Dehghan (M)15 August 2013
FinanceAli Tayebnia (R)15 August 2013
EducationAli Asghar Fani (M)17 August 2013
EnergyHamid Chitchian (M)15 August 2013
Foreign AffairsMohammad Javad Zarif (R)15 August 2013
HealthHassan Hashemi (M)15 August 2013
BusinessMohammadreza Nematzadeh (M)15 August 2013
IntelligenceMahmoud Alavi (P)15 August 2013
InteriorAbdolreza Rahmani Fazli (P)15 August 2013
JusticeMostafa Pourmohammadi (P)15 August 2013
PetroleumBijan Namdar Zanganeh (R)15 August 2013
ScienceMohammad Farhadi (R)26 November 2014
TransportationAbbas Ahmad Akhondi (M)15 August 2013
SportsMahmoud Goudarzi (M)17 November 2013
Ministers of State
Atomic EnergyAli Akbar Salehi (M)16 August 2013
Cultural Heritage and TourismMasoud Soltanifar (R)1 February 2014
EconomicMasoud Nili (R) 4 September 2013
Environmental ProtectionMasoumeh Ebtekar (R)10 September 2013
Executive AffairsMohammad Shariatmadari (R))8 October 2013
InternationalAkbar Torkan (M)1 September 2013
LegalElham Aminzadeh (P)11 August 2013
Martyrs and VeteransMohammad-Ali Shahidi (M)5 September 2013
ParliamentaryMajead Ansari (R)1 September 2013
National ElitesSorena Sattari (R) 5 October 2013
Supervision and StrategicMohammad Bagher Nobakht (M)1 September 2013
Women and Family AffairsShahindokht Molaverdi (R)8 October 2013
Others
Government's spokespersonMohammad Bagher Nobakht (M)1 September 2013
Secretary of the Security CouncilAli Shamkhani (R)11 September 2013
Head of IRIBMohammad Sarafraz (Independent)10 November 2014

See also

References

External links

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