Hassan Rouhani: My Cabinet Will Change in the Next Presidential Term

Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, promised that if he wins this presidential election, he will implement changes in his cabinet. He also spoke about special plans for the first 100 days of his next government, which include job creation and drafting a bill for a 'National Institution for Citizens' Rights'. According to Tasnim News Agency, Mr. Rouhani stated on Thursday, April 26, in response to a journalist's question about potential changes in his next cabinet, without going into details: 'Clearly, the cabinet will undergo changes, and this is natural, and changes will occur naturally. It is a bit early to say who will remain and who will change. Once the elections are over, there will be an opportunity.' Last year, Rouhani's government saw the change of the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, with Reza Salehi Amiri replacing Ali Jannati. Additionally, with Mahmoud Goudarzi's resignation from the Ministry of Sports and Youth, Massoud Soltani Far took over. In 2014, Reza Faraji Dana, the Minister of Science, was impeached and dismissed, ultimately leading to Mohammad Farhadi taking this position. Other than this, Rouhani's cabinet has not witnessed significant changes, and it is unclear which areas the changes he is currently promising will cover. Meanwhile, Hassan Rouhani, who is competing against five other approved candidates for the Iranian presidential election, has promised that if he wins, he will prioritize job creation in the first 100 days of his next government. He stated: 'The first program that will be implemented in the first hundred days is an internship program abbreviated as 'KAJ'... Young people are invited to learn skills at vocational training centers. Simultaneously, they will work in economic enterprises. During this internship period, the government will assist them in getting employed in these enterprises and will also cover the employer's insurance for a period.' He added: 'The regulations for this plan have been drafted; it will be a good initiative for youth employment, and we have seen in exemplary provinces that 70% of young people employed in enterprises were absorbed.' Another priority Mr. Rouhani has set for the first hundred days of his next government is drafting the 'National Institution for Citizens' Rights' bill and sending it to the Islamic Consultative Assembly. Rouhani's government published a charter called Citizens' Rights in the fall of 2016, which described certain infringements on citizens' lives, religious and ethnic discrimination as unconstitutional, and emphasized the rights of women and minorities. This charter received negative reactions from some conservatives, including Mohammad Yazdi, a member of the Guardian Council, who described it as unconstitutional. In one of his campaign programs broadcast on Radio Iran on Thursday, Rouhani defended the nuclear negotiations that led to an agreement between Iran and world powers, stating that the tone of some officials in the years before 2013 was one of war. According to Khabar Online, Mr. Rouhani pointed to the extensive sanctions against Iran before the nuclear agreement, stating: 'People did not feel secure; resolutions were looming over them, putting the country's situation on the brink of crisis, and people were uncertain about their future days.' He further added: 'The tone of some officials in the years before 2013 was one of confrontation and sometimes war. From the very beginning, my message to the world was to speak to the Iranian nation and country with respect, not with contempt, and not to speak in a way that undermines the nation.' Rouhani had previously stated that the shadow of war and threat had been lifted from the Iranian people with the JCPOA. However, this statement has always drawn criticism from certain conservative factions. The latest of these reactions came from the commander of the Aerospace Force of the Revolutionary Guards, who stated on Thursday in the Law newspaper's website that the claim that the JCPOA lifted the shadow of war is a lie, and what has prevented war is Iran's defensive progress. He stated: 'Sometimes our officials say that if Iran does not reach an agreement with the West, war may occur. This was whispered to officials before the JCPOA. After that, some officials said the JCPOA lifted the shadow of war from the nation. Unfortunately, some inside repeat this unknowingly. This is a lie. This is an insult.' The commander of the Revolutionary Guards further added: 'If the JCPOA is solid, it should preserve itself. It does not want to prevent war... We do not deny political interactions, but we should not mislead the people. After the war, we made so many efforts and produced weapons, and then they say the JCPOA lifted the shadow of war from the nation. This is a wrong statement.' Previously, Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, also called the claim that the JCPOA distanced war from Iran a lie and stated that the U.S. still raises the military option today.