Rouhani picks a pragmatic and balanced government


President Hassan Rouhani’s chosen cabinet emerged from the parliamentary vetting process relatively unscathed, attesting to the new leader’s astute political antennae, and his capacity to balance pro and anti-reform individuals without upsetting Iran’s complex factional interplay. In mid-August, MPs approved 15 of the 18 cabinet nominees, who include both some deemed close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and some identified as being more pro-western, such as foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, seen as likely to push for a grand bargain with the West.