AFP/Tehran
Iran’s President Hassan Rohani suffered a fresh setback yesterday when the conservative-dominated parliament rejected his choice for science minister as too close to reformists.
Mahmoud Nili-Ahmadabadi, the pick for minister of science, research and technology, lost a vote of confidence by a margin of 79 to 160 following a parliamentary debate lasting almost three hours.
It was the third time since Rohani took office that deputies rejected his candidate for the influential post that covers Iranian universities.
Lawmakers questioned Nili-Ahmadabadi over his stance on the mass protests which broke out after the June 2009 re-election of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“None of my colleagues nor I have crossed the red lines set” by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he said.
“You will not find a single case of our having overstepped these limits,” he said, questioned over a letter sent to Khamenei and signed by academics including himself to condemn attacks on student protesters inside university campuses.
“All my colleagues believe in the system (of the Islamic Republic) and acted within the framework of the system,” Nili-Ahmadabadi said.
Parliament in August sacked Rohani’s previous science minister, Reza Faraji Dana, for trying to recruit to his staff people accused of involvement in the 2009 protest movement, in which thousands of university students took part.
Reformers and moderates have accused conservatives, who viewed the protests as a “plot” against the Islamic system, of working to weaken Rohani’s government.
A Western diplomat in Tehran said the post of science minister was so sensitive because Iranian universities were “very politically active and difficult to manage”.
Faraji Dana was already Rohani’s third choice as minister for science after parliament rejected the first two nominees.
The role of science minister will be held on an acting basis by Mohamed Ali Najafi, whose permanent appointment was also voted down by lawmakers.
The refusal to back Nili-Ahmadabadi demonstrates underlying tension between Iran’s government and parliament, many members of which are wary of Rohani’s overtures of reform and frequently criticise the “invasion” of Western values in Iranian society.
Rohani kicked off yesterday’s session by defending Nili-Ahmadabadi, adding that “universities need a peaceful atmosphere”.
Nili-Ahmadabadi addresses parliament as speaker Ali Larijani listens during the session in Tehran yesterday.
