Iran’s president proposes ex-nuclear negotiator as foreign minister

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has proposed former nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi as the country’s new foreign minister, and is also seeking to appoint a woman as roads and housing minister.

If approved, Farzaneh Sadegh would be Iran’s first female minister in more than a decade.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf read out the list of proposed ministers to politicians on Sunday.

The hard-line-dominated chamber will have two weeks to review qualifications and give a vote of confidence to the proposed ministers.

Mr Araghchi, 61, a career diplomat, was a member of the Iranian negotiating team that reached a nuclear deal with world powers in 2015 which capped Tehran’s nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions.

In 2018, then-president Donald Trump pulled the US out of the deal and imposed more sanctions on Iran. Mr Pezeshkian said during his presidential campaign that he would try to revive the nuclear deal.

The president named General Aziz Nasirzadeh, an F-14 Tomcat pilot, as defence minister. He was head of the Iranian Air Force in 2018-2021. This would be the first time that a member of Iran’s air force has headed the defence ministry.

Mr Pezeshkian proposed Ms Sadegh as roads and housing minister. The 53-year-old is currently a director in the ministry. She would become only the second female minister in Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

It is unclear, however, whether she will be approved. The hard-line parliament seeks more cultural and social restrictions on women based on its interpretations of Islamic sharia law. Many politicians voiced their opposition when her name was read out by the Speaker during Sunday’s session.

The only previous female minister to be approved by parliament since the revolution was in 2009, when president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad secured a post for Marzieh Vahid Dastgerdi as health minister.

Iranian presidents have, however, appointed women to be vice presidents, a role that is not subject to parliamentary approval. Last week, Mr Pezeshkian appointed Zahra Behrouz Azar as vice president in charge of women’s and family affairs.

The first female minister in Iran’s history was Farrokroo Parsa, who served as education minister in 1968-1971. Revolutionary authorities executed her after the 1979 revolution which ousted the pro-Western monarchy and brought Islamists to power.

Mr Pezeshkian proposed Eskandar Momeni, a relatively moderate police general, as interior minister. The ministry deals with enforcing the mandatory wearing of the Islamic veil on women.

In 2022, the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody after she was arrested for improper wearing of the hijab led to nationwide protests.

Mr Pezeshkian wrote at the time that it was “unacceptable in the Islamic Republic to arrest a girl for her hijab and then hand over her dead body to her family”.

In comments he has suggested he wants less enforcement of the hijab law, as well as better relations with the West and a return to the nuclear accord.

The president is likely to face opposition in passing legislation that supports his stated programme, however, as the chamber is dominated by hard-liners who mainly supported other candidates during the June- July presidential election.

The president named Mohsen Paknejad as oil minister. He was formerly a deputy oil minister.

Mr Pezeshkian also proposed to retain current intelligence minister Ismail Khatib and current justice minister Amin Hossein Rahimi.

He also named current industries minister Abbas Aliabadi as energy minister.

On Saturday the president also reappointed Mohammad Eslami as chief of Iran’s civilian nuclear programme and one of several vice presidents.

They all held their posts under president Ebrahim Raisi, who died alongside foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahain in a May helicopter crash.