Iran appoints caretaker oil minister

Forbes:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has appointed a former deputy oil minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh as interim head of the ministry after his nominee failed to win parliamentary approval. READ MORE

Vaziri-Hamaneh, 60, will head the ministry until a new candidate for the job is submitted to parliament and approved, the student news agency ISNA reported.

On August 24, Iran's conservative-controlled parliament rejected Ahmadinejad's nominee for the oil ministry, Ali Saidloo, as well as three other proposed cabinet members.

Large numbers of deputies in the Majlis argued that some key nominees were totally lacking in experience. Oil exports account for 80 pct of Iran's revenue.

It was the first blow to Ahmadinejad since his shock election win on June 24, even though the rest of his 21 nominees -- many of them ultra-conservatives -- did win the confidence of the parliament.