Pezeshkian told the lawmakers that he initially had “ideal” candidates in mind, but changed them in a bid to please the parliamentarians “because agreement was more important to me than ideal,” AFP cited him as saying.
A reformist politician, Pezeshkian took office late last month following a snap election. In a letter to Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf, speaker of the parliament, Pezeshkian said the approval of his cabinet would pave the way for national unity, according to state media.
All 19 candidates for his cabinet were fully approved by the conservative-dominated parliament. This has not happened in the last 23 years, according to Iranian media.
The new foreign minister is Abbas Araghchi, 61, who is seen as a politician open to talks with the West. The cabinet has only one woman, Farzaneh Sadegh, who will lead the ministry of roads and urban development.
Pezeshkian won Iran’s run-off presidential vote on July 5, beating his ultraconservative rival Saeed Jalili. The vote was originally scheduled for 2025, but was brought forward after former president Ebrahim Raisi died in May in a helicopter crash alongside several companions including late foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani congratulated Pezeshkian for his victory in the parliament.
Sudani, in a letter to the Iranian president, “expressed his best wishes for success in carrying out the government's tasks, emphasizing the importance of the distinguished bilateral relations between Iraq and Iran, and the continued joint efforts to serve the interests of the peoples of both friendly countries,” according to a statement from his office.
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