Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi presented a new cabinet dominated by hardliners, including several officials from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), to the Parliament on Wednesday. In a letter, Raisi introduced the cabinet list of the 13th government for a vote of confidence to the Parliament Speaker.
Raisi has nominated hardline career diplomat Hossein Amir Abdollahian to the post of Foreign Minister. If confirmed, Abdollahian could play a crucial role in determining where the nuclear talks between Iran and the West are headed.
“Abdollahian is a hardline diplomat [...] If the foreign ministry remains in charge of Iran’s nuclear dossier, then obviously Tehran will adopt a very tough line in the talks,” an Iranian nuclear negotiator told Reuters on Wednesday. However, he met with a senior diplomat of the European Union and affirmed Iran’s commitment to returning to the Vienna talks to restore the 2015 nuclear deal.
Since April, Iran officials have held intense negotiations with their counterparts from Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China in Vienna to restore the 2015 deal. While diplomats have expressed satisfaction with the discussions so far, the sixth round of talks ended on June 20 with no sign of when the subsequent negotiations would resume. Last month, Iran notified European negotiators that it would not resume nuclear negotiations until Raisi took office.
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Abdollahian, who has served under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hassan Rouhani, reportedly has strong ties with the IRGC. Iran International mentioned that it was the IRGC that had approved his ambassadorial assignment to Bahrain in 2007. In addition, Reuters reported that Abdollahian is an “anti-Western diplomat” due to his close ties with the IRGC.
“Raisi’s choice shows that he gives importance to regional issues in his foreign policy,” a senior Iranian diplomat told the news agency, referring to Abdollahian’s nomination. Abdollahian was deputy foreign minister for Arab and African affairs between 2011-16 and is believed to have close ties with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies in the Middle East.
Moreover, Raisi nominated former deputy oil minister Javad Owji to lead the Iranian Oil Ministry. Owji, who is under the United States (US) sanctions, faces the difficult task of convincing the US to lift sanctions on Iranian oil exports as part of the nuclear negotiations.
Raisi’s proposal includes a long list of officials closely affiliated with the IRGC and Iran’s military establishment, signalling a return to the hardline and anti-Western policies of former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose government had a significant number of IRGC officials. Iran International reported that Raisi had reserved important ministries like defence, interior, and intelligence for former IRGC officials.
Former Quds Force commander General Ahmad Vahidi has been selected as Interior Minister, and senior IRGC official Rostam Ghasemi has been designated the Urbanisation Minister. Raisi also nominated former IRGC intelligence officer Ismail Khatib as the Intelligence Minister and approved former deputy commander of the Iranian army’s ground forces, General Mohamed Reza Ashtiani, to head the Defence Ministry.
However, the Iranian Parliament, which is set to meet on Saturday, must confirm the nominees. Since the conservatives dominate the Parliament with over 220 out of the 290 seats, Raisi’s list is expected to win the vote of confidence easily.