After being re-elected in a landslide victory on May 19^th, the President Hassan Rouhani took his oath in the Iranian Parliament before parliamentarians and foreign dignitaries on August 5th. On August 8^th Rouhani announced the new cabinet, twelfth in the country’s history, which received a vote of confidence from the Parliament with the exception of Habibollah Bitaraf, nominated Minister of Energy. Rouhani reshuffled half of the cabinet although the new Minister of Science, Research and Technology is yet to be announced. Despite the fact that Iran’s President had promised to form a younger cabinet with higher participation from women, there is no female minister among the 17 announced names of the 18-member cabinet and the average age of ministers, 57.5, is now even higher than the eleventh cabinet where it was 55 years. 36-year old Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, Minister of Information and Communications Technology, is the youngest member of the cabinet while 65-year old Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, Minister for Oil, is the oldest. Nine ministers, including the much debated Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, Minister of Interior, kept their seats. Considering the fact that no conventional political parties as such exist in Iran and governments have traditionally been formed through “politics of compromise” it is not surprising to see individuals with different political backgrounds in the new cabinet. Yet, coming to the presidency after the eight-year tenure of the conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Rouhani is still seen by many Iranians as a second Rafsanjani who could potentially reform the system from within. For many, however, his first term barely carried any reformist agenda at least in domestic politics. In his first term, Rouhani spent much of his time and energy to reintegrate Iran into the wider world community which he thought would be possible via the nuclear deal. In the next four years, he is expected to concentrate on domestic issues. A closer look at the cabinet reveals that economy will be Rouhani’s primary agenda for the second term. This is most clearly reflected by the new names chosen for Rouhani’s economy team.

11th & 12th cabinets

A Technocratic Government?

When announced, Rouhani’s list of ministers did not satisfy any of the parties, conservatives and reformists alike. Based on an analysis of the eight new members it is possible to say that the twelfth cabinet is that of a technocratic government where almost none of the names has a radical political position. 54-year old Seyyed Muhammad Bathayee, Minister of Education, has spent much of his career in the Ministry of Education and has served as the Deputy Secretary General of that ministry for many years. The 36-year old Jahromi, the former deputy minister of information in the 11th cabinet, is a clearly strategic move by Rouhani to communicate a message to the Iranian youth. Jahromi’s recent message in his social media account about their plan for lifting the censorship on YouTube at universities was a move to introduce him to the public. 61-year old Massoud Karbasian is certainly one of the most important names in the new cabinet as well as in Rouhani’s economy team. As a veteran bureaucrat and a learned economist Karbasian has published many books and translations in economics, served as deputy minister to Ali Tayebnia, the former Minister of Economy, and was in charge of Iran’s customs administration. His economy program is a mixture of Rouhani’s policy of re-engaging Iran to the world economy and the Ali Khamenei’s Defensive Economy. The four problems Karbasian identifies in Iran’s economic policies are dependence on oil income (naft-zadaghi), state’s dominant role, (dolat-zadaghi), unfairness and non-transparency (rant-zadaghi) as well as politicization (seyasat-zadaghi). The conservative Seyed Alireza Avayee, the new Minister of Justice, is another significant name in the new cabinet. As an experienced bureaucrat with a long judicial career he is a part of Rouhani’s non-partisan cabinet. The selection of Amir Hatami as Minister of Defense is directly linked to the Supreme Leader’s approval. Unlike the hardliner Hossein Dehqan, the former minister, Hatami has a moderate political leaning. It is important to note that the Minister of Defense enjoys limited powers compared to the military authority of the Revolutionary Guards’ commanders and Iran’s Staff-in-Chief. Mohammad Shariatmadari, the Minister of Industry, is another reformist name in the new cabinet. Having served in critical positions during Hashimi Rafsanjani’s presidency he acted as Minister of Commerce during Muhammad Khatami’s presidency. Seyed Abbas Salehi’s selection as the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance was also an important decision. Salehi is not known for a specific political position although he has conservative leanings. Rouhani’s cultural policies in his first term were much criticized. The performance of the new minister will be important for Iran’s President. Habibollah Bitaraf’s failure to gain a vote of confidence came less of a surprise than the high votes of confidence received by Rahmani Fazli and Hatami. Having served as Minister of Energy during Khatami’s eight years presidency Biraraf was one of the major reformist figures in the proposed cabinet. Bitaraf was criticized for his water administration and the dams constructed under his ministry.   

Despite the existence of a number of reformist and conservative names in the new cabinet it looks, at least on paper, a non-partisan one as Rouhani had promised to form. Further, there seems to be a consensus between Rouhani and the Supreme Leader about giving priority to economic policies. This is reflected in the extensive changes made in Rouhani’s top economy team. However, although Rouhani still has to keep political reforms in his agenda, he will try to avoid any direct confrontation with the establishment in his second term.