Is Iran trying to befriend the West with its new cabinet?

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has nominated a moderate diplomat as foreign minister and a female official as urban development minister as he presented his new cabinet.

Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf announced on Sunday the names of the 19-member cabinet presented by the president during an assembly session broadcast live on state television.

The nominations appear in line with the hopes that the election of Pezeshkian last month, to replace the hardline Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash in May, could lead to a thaw in Iran’s relations with the West.

However, the parliament, which is dominated by hardliners, will begin a review of the nominees starting on Monday, and then vote whether or not to confirm the lineup.

The arguments

For foreign minister, Pezeshkian picked Abbas Araghchi, a 61-year-old career diplomat. Araghchi, who has extolled open, yet critical, talks with the West, served as the chief negotiator in nuclear talks between Tehran and world powers from 2013 to 2021.

He also served as Iran’s ambassador to Japan and Finland, and as a deputy of then-Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who was instrumental in reaching the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

Farzaneh Sadegh was nominated as roads and urban development minister. If confirmed, the 48-year-old would become only the second Iranian woman to hold a ministerial post since the Islamic Republic was established in 1979, after Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi became health minister in 2009.

However, many lawmakers voiced their opposition when her name was read out by the speaker during Sunday’s session.

The facts

The appointment of the new cabinet comes as the world awaits Iran’s next move in response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Iran has angrily blamed Israel for the killing and vowed harsh retaliation. Western leaders have pleaded for restraint, saying that military action by Iran would threaten to tip the war in Gaza into a full-blown regional conflict.

Pezeshkian came to power with promises to improve ties with the world and ease social restrictions at home. It is thought that he worries that a major military confrontation with Israel would jeopardise his priorities. Sources say that Pezeshkian wants to cancel the awaited attack on Israel.

General Aziz Nasirzadeh, a former commander of the Iranian Air Force, has been put forward to take the helm at the defence ministry.

The president named General Eskandar Momeni, a 60-year-old police commander and relatively-moderate former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as interior minister.

Mohsen Paknezhad, a 58-year-old executive director with a long career in the country’s energy industry has been tapped as oil minister.

In late July, Pezeshkian had announced that he would “consult and coordinate” with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all matters of state, to present the final list of ministers. Khamenei could invalidate a part of the list, if the not all of it.