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RFL/RE – Iranian President Hassan Rohani has named two women as vice presidents, a day after proposing a government that included no women in cabinet positions. Rohani’s presidential website announced August 9 that he appointed Masumeh Ebtekar as vice president for women and family affairs and Laaya Joneidi as vice president for legal affairs.
Ebtekar was Rohani’s vice president for the environment department during his first term, one of three female appointees. Another was Shahindokht Molaverdi, who Rohani named as assistant on citizenship rights.
Iranian presidents appoint a number of vice presidents — positions that do not need parliamentary approval.
On August 8, Rohani proposed 17 men for 18 cabinet positions to parliament. All cabinet members must be approved by legislators over the coming week.
A nominee for science minister has not been announced. Rohani also has several more deputy positions to fill and it was unclear if any would go to women.
The cleric had no women as cabinet ministers in his first term either, despite being a moderate and emphasizing women’s rights in his campaign.
The lack of any women among Rohani’s new ministers has been strongly criticized by his reformist allies, who say he has bowed to pressure from the Iran’s religious establishment.
Iran has had only one woman in a minister’s post since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Marzieh Dastjerd served as health minister from 2009-13, under hard-line conservative President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.
Rohani, a relative moderate, was sworn in on August 5 after winning reelection in May with the support of reformists and women after vowing to improve civil liberties and rebuild ties with the West.
His administration signed the landmark 2015 nuclear deal with world powers that led to the lifting of most sanctions against Iran in return for curbs on its nuclear program.
According to the list Rohani submitted to parliament on August 8, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh, and Intelligence Minister Mahmud Alavi are to retain their posts.
Acting Defense Minister Amir Hatami is expected to officially take over that portfolio. Hatami, who is a general, would become the first defense chief selected from the national army in nearly three decades.
Since 1989, Iranian defense ministers were either civilians or, more recently, members of the influential Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which answers only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Lawmakers are not expected to challenge Rohani’s choices for the ministries of foreign affairs, defense, and intelligence, as presidents select them with Khamenei’s approval.
Under the Iranian political system, the supreme leader is commander in chief of the armed forces, appoints the head of the Judiciary, and dictates major policies of the country.
With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP
Copyright (c) 2017 RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
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