Iran’s pro-reform President Masud Pezeshkian has appointed lawmaker Abdolkarim Hosseinzadeh as his deputy for rural development and underprivileged areas.
The appointment, announced late on August 26, makes Hosseinzadeh the first-ever Sunni cabinet member in an Iranian government since the Islamic republic came to power in 1979.
In his decree, Pezeshkian said he tapped Hosseinzadeh for the job because of his “commitment and valuable experiences.”
Pezeshkian tasked his deputy with enhancing the living conditions in villages and “improving the indicators of rural development.”
Hosseinzadeh, 44, has been representing the northwestern cities of Naqadeh and Oshnavieh in parliament since 2012.
Sunni Muslims make up around 5-10 percent of the population in Shi'ite-majority Iran, according to government estimates. They have very rarely held key posts since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
After winning the July 5 runoff presidential election, Pezeshkian said he sought to form a “national unity” government. Members of his team later said that included naming a relatively young cabinet which represented Iran’s ethnic and religious diversity.
But Pezeshkian came under fire for failing to include members of underrepresented groups, including Sunni Muslims, in his proposed ministerial picks earlier this month.
All 19 ministerial nominees were approved by the conservative-dominated parliament last week in a move not seen since 2001.
SEE ALSO: Iranians Decry The Demise Of Republicanism After Cabinet ControversyAhead of the vote of confidence in the cabinet, Pezeshkian told lawmakers that he had selected its members in “coordination” with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This led many to conclude that Pezeshkian’s cabinet had been picked by the supreme leader and lamented what they said were the limits of the president’s powers in Iran.
Pezeshkian’s cabinet also includes three women, including Roads Minister Farzaneh Sadeq, who is only the second woman in the Islamic republic’s history to be named a minister.
The other two women are Zahra Behruz-Azar, Pezeshkian’s deputy for women and family affairs, and Shina Ansari, a deputy to the president and head of the Department of the Environment.