Iran cabinet has 11 new members

Tehran (Iran), Aug.20 (ANI): Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has announced a new cabinet that includes eleven new faces, including three women. None of the 11 new faces have had any ministerial experience.

The line-up was submitted to parliament late on Wednesday, two weeks after Ahmadinejad was sworn in on August 5, the ISNA news agency reported.

Lawmakers will begin examining the names from August 23 before holding a confidence vote on August 30.

Iranian media did not react with any enthusiasm to the news.

The nomination of three women in the 21-member government is a first in the 30-year history of the Islamic republic, although in 1997 then reformist president Mohammad Khatami appointed a woman to the post of vice president.

According to ISNA, Ahmadinejad named Sousan Keshavarz, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi and Fatemeh Ajorlou as his ministers respectively of education, health, and welfare and social security.

The ministers of foreign affairs, economy, industries, cooperatives and transport have all retained their portfolios.

Mostafa Mohammad Najjar meanwhile has been moved from defence to the interior, Masoud Mir Kazemi from commerce to oil, and Mohammad Aliabadi from vice president and the head of physical education organisation to the energy ministry. (ANI)