All the president's men
By Safa Haeri

PARIS - Iran's President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has presented the conservatives-controlled majlis (parliament) a 21-member cabinet in which all key posts are in the hands of middle-ranked, moderate conservatives.

Breaking with the practice of the past decades, in which all incoming presidents simply took on incumbents and rotated only posts, the new president has brought in new faces. The common denominator of the new cabinet is that most of the members have intelligence and military records, and can be considered as "sons" of Iran's top guide, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, meaning that they are faithful Muslims but not ultra-radicals, as an Iranian political analyst told The Asia Times Online.

"The bad news is that most of the new ministers are former sepahi [Revolutionary Guards] or Basiji [volunteer militias] of etela'ati [intelligence and security]. The good news is that unlike the so-called reformists, who were not much different from the conservatives but had put on a reform-seeking hood in order to have a share in the cake, the new ministers have no mask; they are what they are and represent the true image of the regime," commented Amir Abbas Fakhravar, an outspoken activist student in Tehran.

Except for a few nominees who might not get outright approval from parliament, all ministers, particularly those placed in key posts such as foreign affairs, information (intelligence) and interior and oil will be accepted, analysts said.

"The greatest criticism raised by members of parliament on the proposed ministers concerned their working background and experience, while the economic team on the list caused the greatest objection," the official Iranian news agency IRNA said about the new ministers.

"Loyal" and tolerated opposition inside Iran criticized the lack of experience of the proposed ministers for macro-economic matters and management. "The government is not a school for administration management," observed Mohammad Atrianfar, a member of the Kargozaran, or Islamic Iran Managers, close to veteran politician and former president Hashemi Rafsanjani.

New Foreign Affairs Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, 52, is a career diplomat who has served most of his time at the ministry, where he became a deputy to the minister for international affairs under Rafsanjani. A former ambassador to Japan and Turkey, Mottaki, who is fluent in English and also speaks some Urdu and Turkish - is the vice chairman of the majlis' foreign affairs and national security committee, which supports the reactivation of all Iranian nuclear activities.

According to some analysts, Mottaki's nomination shows that the nuclear affairs of Iran will be led by Ali Larijani (the former head of the conservatives-controlled radio and television), who has been appointed as the new secretary of the Supreme Council on National Security, replacing Hassan Rohani, who up to now has led Iran's negotiations with the European Three (EU-3) - Germany, France and Britain - on Iran's nuclear program.

Iran resumed its suspended uranium conversion activities at its Isfahan nuclear processing plant last week despite objections from the EU-3 that such actions risked Iran's referral to the UN Security Council and possible sanctions.

At the helm at interior is Mostafa Pourmohammadi, 46, a former acting intelligence minister who also served as prosecutor of Islamic Revolution Tribunals in several provinces, including the oil-rich Khouzestan. He is also the head of the political and social department of Khamenei's office.

Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, a cleric, is given the important Intelligence Ministry. As prosecutor of the Special Tribunal for Clergymen he tried many reformist clerics, such as Abdollah Nouri, the powerful interior minister under Rafsanjani and then previous president Mohammad Khatami.

"A man who publicly warns that he will cut off the head of anyone who stands up to the leader obviously creates fear among the public," journalist Isa Saharkhiz told the Persian service of the BBC, adding, "With such a man at the Intelligence Ministry, one cannot expect but a sudden shift from the practices of a democratic government [Khatami] to one of intelligence-security-military with a particular religious standpoint."

The appointment of Mohammad Hoseyne Saffar-Harandi as the Islamic culture and guidance minister has caused some waves. He is a former assistant of Hoseyne Sharit'atmadari, an intelligence officer who specialized in interrogating intellectuals and political prisoners and was appointed by Khamenei as the editor-in-chief of the radical daily Keyhan. The media community fears that what little freedom there is in the independent media will be curbed.

"The intelligentsia and press are mournful. Journalists, intellectuals and artists - all depending on this administration - are presenting condolences to each other, reciting requiems," Fakhravar said.

At the Oil Ministry, 53-year-old American-educated geologist Ali Sa'idlou, the president's right-hand man at the Tehran municipality when Ahmadinejad was mayor, takes over. Sa'idlou is also a member of the Economic Department of the administration's Supreme Council on National Security.

New Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, 49, is a veteran of the Revolutionary Guards since the establishment of the body in 1980. He was in charge of the Middle East department, with Palestine, Lebanon and the Persian Gulf his places of particular attention. Najjar has a degree in administration management from Tehran Engineering University and he helped set up the military structures of Lebanon's Hezbollah. The Arabic-speaking Najjar is both the director-manager of Iran's Ammunition and Heavy Arms Production Organization and the Defense Ministry's armament procurement division.

Roads and Transport Minister Mohammad Rahmati retains his post - the only minister to do so.

"The principal basis of my government's policy is justice, which must be reflected in all economic, cultural and social policies," Ahmadinejad said as he met with the new cabinet members.

Fakhravar does not believe that the new government will crack down on what social and cultural gains Iranians made under the moderate Khatami. "Iranian society is not that of the first years of the Islamic revolution [1970]. Iranian society has changed and will stand up to any limitations of its gains, and international conditions are also different," he stressed. He added that the "homogenization" of governance under the leadership of the conservatives would also improve unity between the different factions of the home-grown opposition.

According to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the majlis will start debate on the credentials of the nominees and outlines of government programs within a week and then will formally approve the nominations.

Ahmadinejad, also a former Revolutionary Guard, won a presidential runoff on June 24 against Rafsanjani, whom most political analysts had thought would easily win. He was officially confirmed by Khamenei on August 3 and took oath an in the majlis three days later.

Safa Haeri is a Paris-based Iranian journalist covering the Middle East and Central Asia.

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