LATEST: White House Reacts to Rouhani Inauguration

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President Hassan Rouhani will not be inaugurated until later on Sunday, but he has already been given a warning by the Supreme Leader.

Ayatollah Khamenei might have been smiling as he gave Rouhani his endorsement in an embrace at a Saturday ceremony, but the words in the Supreme Leader’s subsequent speech were admonishing: ““He should realise the fact that the people see Iran as an Islamic country.”

The surface reminder that Rouhani is in the Presidency to serve an Islamic Republic had a deeper, more important message: he is also there under the Supreme Leader’s authority.

Ayatollah Khamenei also put out other coded reminders of that rule. He rarely referred to Rouhani by name or even as “President”. Indeed, the opening minutes of his statement were devoted not to the incoming Government but to the “political epic” of the June election, framed as a tribute to the Islamic Republic — and thus to Ayatollah Khamenei’s leadership — than as a surprising first-round triumph for Rouhani.

And, while acknowledging the problems with which the Government would have to deal — not least the effect of US-led sanctions — Khamenei put down another marker for the President’s good behavior: “You accept the pains [of office] and the responsibility to serve the people.”

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White House Reacts to Rouhani Inauguration

The White House has given its public reaction to the inauguration of President Rouhani, with spokesman Jay Carney saying that it “presents an opportunity for Iran to act quickly to resolve the international community’s deep concerns over Iran’s nuclear program”..

Carney assured, “Should this new government choose to engage substantively and seriously to meet its international obligations and find a peaceful solution to this issue, it will find a willing partner in the United States.”

The spokesman added, “We hope the new Iranian government will heed the will of the voters by making choices that will lead to a better life for the Iranian people.”

Notes on the Rouhani Cabinet

Some immediate notes on President Rouhani’s Cabinet nominees….

1. As expected, the list is a return to center stage for many figures in the Rafsanjani and Khatami Administrations, as well as those who worked with Rouhani in recent years in the Center for Strategic Research of the Expediency Council. Most of those men had been in the political wilderness in the Ahmadinejad years.

That makes this part of a very good two months for former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and his attempt to re-claim a central role in Iranian politics.

2. Despite Rouhani’s campaign promises to stand for women’s rights, there are no women among the names.

3. Mohammed Reza Zarif as Foreign Minister will be seen — rightly — as a key signal for “engagement” with the West. Zarif is a highly-respected diplomat who was Iranian Ambassador to the UN before being put in the political cold by Ahmadinejad in 2005.

4. Ali Younesi, former Minister of Intelligence under President Khatami, is the proposed Vice President for Political and Security Affairs — that could be another signal of a shift in the approach to foreign policy.

5. In another link to the Khatami years, Bijan Zanganeh — Minister of Oil from 1997 to 2005 — returns to the post. That will be a marked contrast in style and background to the last Minister under Ahmadinejad, the Revolutionary Guards’ Rustam Qassemi.

6. In a sign of Rouhani’s priority on an approach to Iran’s problems, economics professor Ali Tayebnia, a specialist on inflation, is Minister of Economy.

7. Madhmoud Alavi, a Tehran representative on the Assembly of Experts, becomes Minister of Intelligence.

8. Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a former Minister of Interior and vocal critic of the Ahmadinejad Government, returns to Cabinet as Minister of Justice.

Fars has poured pictures of the nominees.

Rouhani Inaugural Speech: “Speak to Us With the Language of Respect, Not Threats”

Rouhani Names His Cabinet

President Rouhani has given Parliament the nominees for his Cabinet:

First Vice President: Es’haq Jahangiri
Vice President for Parliamentary Affairs: Teimour Ali Asgari
Vice President for Political and Security Affairs: Ali Younesi
Vice President for Executive Affairs: Morteza Bank
Vice President for Supervision and Strategic Affairs: Mohammad Baqer Nobakht
Vice President and Head of Iran Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization: Reza Salehi

Head of Presidential Office’s Inspection Bureau: Hossein Fereydoun (the brother of the President)
Chief of Staff: Mohammad Nahavandian
Chief Advisor: Akbar Torkan
Foreign Affairs Advisor: Mahmoud Sariolqalam

Minister of Oil: Bijan Namdar Zanganeh
Minister of Interior: Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli
Minister of Economy: Ali Tayebnia
Minister of Intelligence: Mahmoud Alavi
Minister of Energy: Hamid Chitchian
Minister of Defense: Hossein Dehghan
Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade: Mohammad Reza Ne’matzadeh
Minister of Labor, Cooperative and Welfare: Ali Rabiei
Minister of Agriculture: Mahmoud Hojjati
Minister of Road and Urban Development: Abbas Akhoundi
Minister of Education: Mohammad Ali Najafi
Minister of Health: Hassan Qazizadeh Hashemi
Minister of Sports and Youth: Massoud Soltanifar
Minister of Foreign Affairs: Mohammad Javad Zarif
Minister of Justice: Mohammad Javad Montazeri
Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance: Ali Jannati
Minister of Information and Communications Technology: Mahmoud Vaezi
Minister of Science, Research and Technology: Ja’far Meili Monfared

Hassan Rouhani is Inaugurated as President

Hassan Rouhani has been inauguarated as the 7th President of the Islamic Republic in a ceremony in Parliament, taking the oath of office from the head of judiciary, Sadegh Larijani.

Leading officials from the military and the outgoing Ahmadinejad Government were present. One foreign dignitary, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, was missing because he was prevented from flying over Saudi Arabia, but others like Afghan President Hamid Karzai attended.

Video: Ahmadinejad Hands Over His Office

Footage from State TV of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad handing over his office to his successor, President Hassan Rouhani.

Who’s In and Who’s Out at Sunday’s Inauguration?

The office of Presidential Hassan Rouhani has released its list of invitees to today’s inauguration in the Parliament building.

Many of the 42 names on the list are rumored to be nominees in the President’s yet-to-be-formed Cabinet, such as Ali Jannati and Mohammed Javad Zarif, the former Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations.

Economist Mohammad Nahavandian, appointed as Rouhani’s head of office on Saturday, is also there.

But Mohammad Khatami is not — earlier this week Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi warned that the former President should be excluded because he had supported “sedition”, i.e., the protests after the disputed 2009 Presidential election.

“New Beginning” Picture: Rouhani In The Presidential Palace

New President Hassan Rouhani closed Saturday by tweeting a photograph of himself in the Presidential Palace in Tehran.

The hashtag? #newbeginning.