Rouhani’s cabinet includes 18 ministers, all of whom must be approved by the parliament.
There was scolding and shouting in the parliament sessions over a few ministers who are famous for being close to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the influential head of the Expedience Council. Rafsanjani was the mullah’s regime President from 1989 to 1997.
Ebrahim Hakimi, a member of the mullahs’ parliament, asserted that Rouhani’s proposed ministers are in fact Rafsanjani’s second cabinet. Another member of parliament added that Rafsanjani’s “thief children” have undermined the system. Rafsanjani’s office immediately reacted to these statements.
Some speakers brought up fresh points about the prevailing condition they now see as dire. Among them, Representative Mohammad Reza Tabesh said, “Nearly 34 resolutions have been adopted by the European Union, the U.S. and the U.N. against Iran. Economic growth is zero. It is embarrassing that our country is among the first ten countries of the world in terms of financial corruption, ranking fourth in divorce and number of drug addicts exceeding 4 million people.”
In return, Es’hagh Jahangiri, the mullahs’ vice-president said, “The country’s management organization has been seriously damaged. Those who have a hand in the work know how disorganized the management situation is.”
Iran’s political analysts commonly believe that the current verbal dispute in the mullahs’ parliament is in fact a conflict between the Supreme leader Ali Khamenei and Rafsanjani. This conflict has increased to a level which cripples the government at the beginning of its term.
In Monday’s session, Ali Mohammad Bozorgvari, a member of parliament, said that a serum should be given to the proposed ministers. Mehrdad Bazrpash, another representative, said that the cabinet is like a corporation, explaining that each faction of the regime has taken one or two ministers as their share in the cabinet.