After five working days and ten public sessions, Iran's Islamic Consultative Assembly (parliament) has completed its review of the backgrounds, qualifications, and programmes of the proposed ministers, with all 19 ministers for the 14th cabinet receiving a full vote of confidence.
President Masoud Pezeshkian addressed the parliament for the second time this week, defending his proposed ministers before the voting process began on August 21.
The president berated the MPs to get on with voting and stop the arguments, suggesting the official list had been vetted by others beforehand.
The voting was conducted by distributing ballots to the representatives, who cast their votes for all nominees simultaneously. The results were then announced to the assembly.
This marks the conclusion of the parliamentary process to approve the new government following President Pezeshkian's recent election victory.
Observers will closely watch how the newly approved ministers tackle issues such as economic reform, foreign policy, and social development in the coming months following the turmoil in the system. Pezeshkian surprisingly won the snap presidential elections on July 5 and replaced Ebrahim Raisi, who died in a helicopter crash on May 19 close to the border of Azerbaijan.
He submitted his list of proposed ministers to the parliament on August 11 after intense reviews by a "strategic council" comprising hundreds of experts.
Pezeshkian responded to the parliament's vote of confidence for all his proposed ministers with a message of unity on Wednesday evening.
"Consensus for Iran. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful," Pezeshkian wrote in his first reaction to the parliamentary approval.
The president's message was accompanied by an image of himself alongside Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, and Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, the head of the judiciary.
This show of solidarity among the heads of Iran's executive, legislative, and judicial branches comes at a crucial time as the new government prepares to tackle pressing domestic and international challenges.
Among those permitted to vote were all parliamentarians including minority MPs from the Armenian, Assyrian, Jewish and Zoroastrian communities.
New Iranian ministers
The approved ministers, along with their vote tallies, are as follows: