Iran’s President Packs Cabinet With Hard-liners, Parliament Approves

Iran’s parliament on Wednesday approved all but one of newly elected President Ebrahim Raisi’s 19 nominees for the country’s cabinet. The ultra-conservative Raisi, who is under Western sanctions and heavy criticism from human rights groups for his involvement in mass executions of political prisoners when he was a judge, has filled his cabinet with like-minded leaders, such as Hossein Amirabdollahian, the new foreign minister. Amirabdollahian is believed to have close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as well as proxy forces such as Lebanon’s powerful Hizbullah group and the Houthis in Yemen. Raisi’s cabinet includes several Revolutionary Guard commanders, among them Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi, a former defense minister and commander of the Guards’ Quds Force. Several members of the cabinet are on Western sanctions lists. The only rejected nominee was Raisi’s choice to head the Education Ministry. With the cabinet essentially in place, Raisi now faces the difficult task of managing a country crippled by a deep economic crisis, heavy sanctions, and the worst outbreak of COVID-19 in the region.