Iran hard-liners laud Revolutionary Guards’ grip on new cabinet

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Aug. 15 – Deputies in Iran’s hard-line Majlis (parliament) welcomed the proposed list for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s new 21-member cabinet, which included at least 13 former commanders of the Revolutionary Guards and its affiliated agencies, as well as five former officials in Iran’s notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and revolutionary prosecutor’s office. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Aug. 15 – Deputies in Iran’s hard-line Majlis (parliament) welcomed the proposed list for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s new 21-member cabinet, which included at least 13 former commanders of the Revolutionary Guards and its affiliated agencies, as well as five former officials in Iran’s notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and revolutionary prosecutor’s office.

“The presence of Revolutionary Guards in the cabinet will strengthen Ahmadinejad’s government”, a leading member of the hard-line Islamist faction in parliament said on Monday.

Reza Zavarei told Majlis deputies on Monday that the overwhelming presence of Revolutionary Guards figures in the new cabinet will “facilitate the problems associated with the country’s nuclear programme”.

Zavarei did not elaborate, but an official of the Iranian opposition group the National Council of Resistance of Iran told a press conference in Vienna last week that Iran’s ultra-conservative leaders sought to divert more government resources to the country’s clandestine nuclear weapons programme by giving the Revolutionary Guards greater control over the executive branch.

Ahmad Pishbin, another ultra-conservative deputy, told the government-run news agency ILNA on Monday, “Those who have served in the Revolutionary Guards have proven their loyalty to the revolution and the Islamic Republic. They are the true Islamic revolutionaries and are therefore reliable and their presence in the country’s vital centres is necessary”.

“The Revolutionary Guards are the spiritual children of Imam Khomeini”, the deputy said.

Pishbin predicted that all 21 candidates on Ahmadinejad’s list would be approved by parliament next week without any serious objections.

In February 2004, hard-liners, including at least 70 former commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, secured an overwhelming majority in Iran’s Majlis. With a clergy-dominated conservative Judiciary and the emergence of Ahmadinejad as President, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s hard-line camp has captured all of Iran’s key institutions of power.

Mohammad-Nabi Roudaki, a deputy from the southern city of Shiraz, told Majlis, “The successful presence of Revolutionary Guards and intelligence officials in the upcoming cabinet is very beneficial”.

“The record of service of Ahmadinejad’s ministers in the Revolutionary Guards and the intelligence agencies will allow the government to move forward in leaps”, Roudaki, who sits on the National Security and Foreign Policy committee of the Majlis, said.