Iran MPs approve President Masoud Pezeshkian's entire cabinet

Former nuclear deal negotiator Abbas Araghchi is the new Foreign Minister

Members of Iran's Parliament vote on the cabinet appointments proposed by the country's newly elected president, on Wednesday. AFP

Iran's conservative-dominated parliament has approved reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian's proposed cabinet, which includes one woman and a foreign minister open to dialogue with the West.

Wednesday's vote marked the first time in 23 years that Iran's parliament endorsed all ministers proposed by a president, since the term of reformist Mohammad Khatami, according to the reformist daily Etemad.

The show of unity comes at a critical time for Iran, as the Islamic Republic faces mounting foreign and domestic challenges. It also comes as Tehran continues to vow retaliation against Israel following the assassination last month of Hamas’s political chief Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital. Iran blamed Israel for the killing.

Mr Pezeshkian's cabinet line-up had drawn criticism from some among Iran's reformist camp, particularly over the inclusion of conservatives from his predecessor Ebrahim Raisi's government. Others criticised it for the absence of ethnic and religious minorities and for not including more women.

Former foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif resigned as vice president of strategic affairs over dissatisfaction with the president's cabinet selection. Mr Zarif was in charge of forming the committees to choose the new ministers under Mr Pezeshkian.

During a session broadcast on state television, legislators voted in favour of all 19 ministers chosen by Mr Pezeshkian – who was inaugurated in July after former president Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash. An investigation into the crash found it was caused by bad weather and that there was “absolute certainty that what happened was an accident,” Iranian media said on Wednesday, citing an official.

In a speech in parliament ahead of the vote, Mr Pezeshkian said he initially had other candidates in mind “but when I saw that there was no mutual agreement on them, I backed down”.

“Because agreement was more important to me than ideal [candidates],” he added, vowing “to move forward with unity”.

The President later held his first session with the newly approved cabinet.

Following the vote, Mr Pezeshkian posted a photo of himself on social media platform X alongside Iran's conservative Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Chief Justice Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, with a caption reading “consensus for Iran”.

“The parliament will be with the government on the way to solving the problems of the country,” Mr Ghalibaf wrote on social media platform X after the vote.

Key ministers

The new cabinet includes Abbas Araghchi, 61, a career diplomat, who becomes Iran's new Foreign Minister, replacing Hossein Amirabdollahian, who died alongside Mr Raisi in May.

Mr Araghchi, known for openness towards the West, has recently vowed “all-round support for the axis of resistance and Palestine” during a speech in parliament, referencing pro-Tehran armed groups opposed to Israel, including Palestinian Hamas militants, Iraqi movements and Yemen's Houthi rebels.

He led the Iran nuclear talks in 2013 and played a role in sealing the milestone 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and western countries.

But the deal, designed to regulate Iran's atomic activities in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions, collapsed in 2018 after unilateral US withdrawal.

Wednesday's vote also approved the only woman in the cabinet, Farzaneh Sadegh.

She becomes the second woman to hold a ministerial post since the Islamic republic's establishment in 1979.

Ms Sadegh, 47, will head the ministry of roads and urban development.

Gen Aziz Nasirzadeh, a former commander of the Iranian air force and deputy chief of staff of the armed forces since 2021, was confirmed as Defence Minister.

He obtained 281 out of 288 votes in the 290-seat parliament – the highest number yet for a minister, according to IRNA state news agency.

Mr Pezeshkian's pick for Minister of Intelligence, Esmail Khatib, who led the same ministry under Mr Raisi, was also among those approved by parliament.

Mr Raisi's minister of industries, Abbas Aliabadi, becomes Energy Minister.

With reporting from agencies