TEHRAN, 8 July 2005 — Tehran media yesterday revealed the list of candidates speculated at being in line for positions in the new Cabinet of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. According to the labor news agency Kar, the Cabinet includes both technocrats and hard-liners, most of them with previous experience in the executive power. In the Foreign Ministry, Mahmoud Mohammadi and Manouchehr Mottaki have been nominated.
Mohammadi was former Foreign Ministry spokesman in the administration of Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani and Mottaki during the same time (1989-97) deputy foreign minister. Both are regarded as moderates.
For the oil ministry, former United Nations envoy Hadi Nejadhosseinian has been nominated. Nejadhosseinian, considered as a highly qualified technocrat, also served as industries’ minister in the Rafsanjani administration.
As expected, the conservative Mohammad Khoshchehreh is in line to become economic and finance minister. Khoshchehreh used to act as Ahmadinejad’s economic adviser and came up recently with the controversial plan to reduce the interests rates in the banks.
