Mullahs’ new government: Presidential failure and ignorant ministers

Nora Bandari

New Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has failed in his first task, which was to present the candidates for the new government to the Iranian parliament on August 8, due to his inability to complete it. In addition, some of the names of the candidates that Raisi did present were not approved by new Vice President Mohammad MokhberDezfuli.

Presidential failure

In the same context, the deputy head of the Islamic Revolution Committee in the Iranian parliament, Mohammad-Reza Mirtajodini, announced on August 14 that the names of the new ministers would be announced, but the final formation of the new government has not been announced yet. It was also assumed that the nominated ministers would attend the meetings of the specialized parliamentary committees to defend their programs.

Foreign objection

Some Iranian opposition media revealed that Raisi had selected Ahmad Vahidi as the Minister of Interior, who was objected to by the Argentine government, which confirmed in a statement that Vahidi is the most prominent person accused of carrying out the bombing attack against a Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994 that killed 85 people and indicating that the Iranian regime’s appointment of Vahidi is an insult to the Argentine judiciary and the victims of the terrorist attack against the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA).

Internal criticism

In addition to the foregoing, a number of Iranian activists and political analysts have criticized the proposed ministers in Raisi’s government, saying that these candidates are not able to carry the burden of fixing the economy and that they do not have the competence that would enable them to get Iran out of its critical crises, especially in light of the deterioration of the economy and the collapse of the local currency as a result of the US sanctions imposed on Iran, as well as the outbreak of the corona virus.

Suggested list

On August 11, Raisi presented a list of proposed ministerial positions, and Iranian media revealed that the majority of candidates come from the conservative movement, most notably Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, nominated to take over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as the nomination of Rostam Ghasemi, and advisor to the commander of the Quds Force, for the Ministry of Roads and Urban Development. In addition, two other former officers of the Revolutionary Guards were nominated, namely, Ahmad Vahidi as Minister of Interior and Ezzatollah Zarghami as Minister of Tourism.

A number of political analysts revealed that the proposed Minister of Energy was unable to manage the country’s aggravating crises, whether related to water and electricity, in addition to the fact that Reza Fatemi Amin, the candidate for the Ministry of Industry and Trade, does not have sufficient experience to manage this ministry.

As a result of the foregoing, and based on the names of the proposed ministers, Iranian politicians demanded that the parliament vote no confidence in this ineffective list, but if they fail to do so, they must choose at least suitable assistants and advisers in order to bear the burden of the ministers’ ignorance and save what can be salvaged to get Iran out of its worsening crises. However, it is largely expected that the parliament will vote on the proposed names, given that it has a majority of conservatives and Revolutionary Guard commanders, led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guard.