Four remaining ministers in Iran to be announced shortly

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Oct. 30 – Candidates for the four remaining portfolios in the government of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be presented shortly to the country’s Majlis, or Parliament, an informed source said on Sunday. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Oct. 30 – Candidates for the four remaining portfolios in the government of hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be presented shortly to the country’s Majlis, or Parliament, an informed source said on Sunday.

Majlis deputies had turned down President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s choices for the ministries of Oil, Education, Cooperatives, and Welfare and Social Security.

Last week, ex-President Hashemi Rafsanjani publicly criticised the executive power for failing to present new substitutes for the rejected candidates.

The most heated debates are expected to focus on Ahmadinejad’s choice for the Minister of Oil. Iran’s Oil Ministry is beset by rampant corruption and illegal oil deals by some of the top officials in the ministry.

The new President has vowed to purge the ministry of the “mafias that have plundered the country’s oil wealth”. Rafsanjani’s sons and close relatives are widely suspected of being part of the “oil oligarchy”.