Appointment of Caretakers for Three Ministries: Education, Culture and Islamic Guidance, and Sports

Following the resignation of three ministers from the cabinet of the eleventh government, Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, on Wednesday appointed caretakers for the ministries of Sports and Youth, Education, and Culture and Islamic Guidance through separate decrees. According to IRNA, Hassan Rouhani appointed Mohammad Bat'haei as the caretaker of the Ministry of Education, Abbas Salehi as the caretaker of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, and Nasrollah Sajjadi as the caretaker of the Ministry of Sports and Youth. The Iranian presidential website stated that these changes were made to "repair and strengthen the cabinet." On Tuesday and Wednesday, Iranian media reported the resignations of Ali Jannati, the Minister of Culture, Mahmoud Goudarzi, the Minister of Sports, and Ali Asghar Fani, the Minister of Education. In his resignation letter, Ali Jannati wrote: "Given the nature of culture and art and the deep disagreements among intellectual figures regarding cultural and artistic issues on one hand, and the efforts of opponents and ill-wishers to thwart any positive cultural movement of this ministry since its inception, it has been more attacked than other executive bodies, and most of its activities have been destroyed in an atmosphere polluted by lies, defamation, and unfounded accusations." The opposition of several clerics to holding music concerts in cities like Mashhad and Qom, along with Jannati's reactions to these requests, turned the actions of this ministry into a battleground for the confrontation between the government's opponents and supporters. Hossein Ali Amiri, the parliamentary assistant to the President of Iran, also stated on Wednesday to Fars News Agency that the Ministers of Culture and Sports were absent from the cabinet meeting. He added that in the meeting, "the President spoke about the resignation of the mentioned individuals and the necessity of cabinet repair, which made it clear that the absence of the two ministers was due to the acceptance of their resignations by the President." According to Fars, Seyyed Mohammad Ali Shahidi Mahallati, the head of the Martyrs Foundation and Affairs of Veterans, also announced that new ministers are expected to be introduced to the parliament next week.