Rouhani Appoints Veep, Advisors

President Hassan Rouhani reappointed a vice president and named three advisors in separate decrees on Monday.

Rouhani reappointed Hosseinali Amiri as vice president for parliamentary affairs, IRNA reported. 

Ali Younesi was promoted from the presidential aide to advisor on ethnic and religious minorities affairs, Reza Faraji-Dana would advise him on scientific affairs and Akbar Torkan would serve as presidential advisor on revamping distressed urban areas.

Rouhani won reelection in a landslide victory in the May presidential election that extended his mandate until 2021.

Faraji-Dana formerly served as minister of higher education in Rouhani’s Cabinet until August 2014, when the then conservative-majority parliament voted for an impeachment motion to dismiss him over mismanagement charges.

Rouhani did not name any candidate for the Science Ministry, which is in charge of higher education, when proposing his Cabinet members for parliamentary confirmation in August.

Two months later, lawmakers voted to confirm Rouhani’s pick for the ministry, Mansour Gholami, who has a PhD in horticulture from Australia’s University of Adelaide.