The Shadow of the Cabinet in Baharestan

The newspaper Etemad in its front page titled "The Shadow of the Cabinet in Baharestan" wrote: "Twenty days before the inauguration of the president, the examination of potential cabinet names has become contentious in parliament." While Elias Hazrati, a representative from Tehran and the manager of Etemad newspaper, wrote on his Twitter page on Tuesday: "There are no good and pleasant news about finalizing the cabinet list, especially in the economic team. I hope this news is not true," the newspaper reported: "On Tuesday morning, prior to the start of the public session of representatives, there was a non-public meeting regarding the twelfth cabinet, and Hazrati's tweet after this meeting showed that the recent concerns of reformists about the cabinet were not unfounded." Etemad noted that a few days ago, Mohammad Reza Aref stated, "In the May elections, there is no doubt that Rouhani's victory is owed to reformists. Our request at the threshold of forming the twelfth government is cooperation and coordination with the Hope faction," reminding that these remarks were met with reactions from some government figures such as Hesamoddin Ashna and Mohammad Fazeli, who considered it "Aref's claim for a share from the government." The newspaper Shargh in its front page titled "The Cabinet at the Crossroads of Baharestan" wrote: "On August 5, Hassan Rouhani will submit his proposed cabinet list to Baharestan. Until that day, there will be numerous lobbies and negotiations, but so far there have been no good news about the cabinet formation, and it seems that the representatives of the Hope faction are dissatisfied with the processes." This newspaper, while quoting "an informed source," denied the news of the resignation of Eshaq Jahangiri, Rouhani's first vice president, and evaluated the performance of the current cabinet ministers in the Hope faction, emphasizing that "it is clear that Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, the Minister of Interior, and Mahmoud Vaezi, the Minister of Communications, are priorities for change, and there are many complaints about these two." The newspaper wrote that even Bahram Parsai, the spokesperson for the Hope faction, advised Hassan Rouhani to "review his speeches during the elections once again so that he does not forget his electoral promises and pays attention to the Hope faction's evaluation of the current cabinet in line with the formation of the twelfth cabinet." The newspaper Iran, however, quoted Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the government spokesman, stating: "The demands of the people are the criterion for forming the cabinet" and "none of the political and non-political actions and interactions will have any impact on the selection of the cabinet." The newspaper Jahan San'at reported, referring to what it described as "efforts to engineer the twelfth government," that "these days, political struggles among various factions over the formation of the twelfth cabinet have intensified, and there is speculation that there is a possibility of the Rouhani government cabinet becoming conservative. Some government officials and close associates of the president emphasize that the president is indebted to no individual, group, or political current; among them is Mahmoud Vaezi, the Minister of Communications, who said yesterday in a meeting with the Valayi faction of parliament: Mr. Rouhani is not indebted to any group, faction, or current, and no group or current can claim that they caused Rouhani's election because the people voted for Rouhani." Behrouz Namati, the spokesperson for the tenth parliament's presiding board, told Jahan San'at: "For five of the ministers, approval from the leader must be obtained, and there is no doubt about that," but Alireza Rahimi, a member of the National Security Commission of the tenth parliament, regarding the recommendations of senior officials to the president for cabinet formation and its impact on the president's selection, told this newspaper: "Legally, the selection of ministers and the submission of the cabinet list to parliament is completely and 100% at the discretion of the president, and the president is not legally obliged to follow the list and recommendations of others. However, the political executive atmosphere of the country is such that the president considers certain considerations that relate to the voting body he has in society and also to the management of the country and the overall outcomes that exist in the cabinet's mandates." The newspaper Ebtekar in its front page titled "Change in the Frontline of Principlists" referred to the seating of Amir Hossein Maghsoudloo, known as "Amir Tataloo," in the front row of the anniversary ceremony of the launch of one of the subsidiaries of the Fars News Agency alongside figures such as Ezzatollah Zarghami and Hamid Rasai, writing: "Once, prominent figures such as Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mohammad Reza Mahdavi-Kani, Habibollah Asgaroladi, Mohammad Yazdi, and Ali Moshkini were seen in the forefront of this current, but currently this field is occupied by loud figures who have neither significant experience in this camp nor are they considered a weight for this current." This newspaper emphasized that "the central axis of the principlist camp being occupied by individuals lacking political qualifications and experience, shows a disconnection from traditional positions and history," stating that "today is a time of hardship and decline for the principlists, where the political and operational pulse of this current is in the hands of radical individuals or those without a political record." Kayhan, however, praised the current position of the principlist faction and wrote: "The presence of Amir Hossein Maghsoudloo (Tataloo) at the one-year anniversary of Fars Plus has become an excuse for distorted grievances against revolutionary forces by extremists claiming reform. Tataloo had previously met with Ayatollah Raisi. His past, mixed with offenses and mistakes, and his tattoos naturally provoked protests and criticism. However, he recently announced his regret and repentance for his past, stating that he has repented and emphasizes defending his homeland against the enmities of reactionary regimes and America, expressing humility and respect towards martyrs and defenders of the shrine." This newspaper wrote: "Tataloo claims to be repentant and regretful of his past actions. Who can reject him and people like him in their expression of remorse? The current state of individuals is what matters, and he says he has repented, while also being passionate about his homeland against enemies and traitors. Tomorrow, if he or someone greater than him steps out of line, revolutionary forces will protest against them." Kayhan described the principlist faction's logic in approaching Amir Tataloo as stemming from "the clear logic of the Hezbollah current" and emphasized that "the Hezbollah current has a clear logic: the current state of individuals matters. Anyone who returns to ethics, values, Islam, and Iran should be welcomed. And anyone who leaves the revolution's front and stands against the principles and ideals, even if they have a good past, should be dealt with based on their current state." The newspaper Etemad followed up on the claim of the shocking murder of a child in Tehran, writing that based on the videos presented during a traffic accident, it became clear that "a father threw his child under a car to obtain compensation." The driver of this vehicle regarding this accident, without mentioning names, stated: "Last week, near sunset, I was driving in a quiet street. I reached a crossroad where the traffic light was about to turn red. I wanted to rush through the intersection before the light turned red when I suddenly noticed that a person wanted to throw his 6-year-old son into the street. Since the distance was not more than a hundred meters, I could not control my car and collided with him. I quickly called an ambulance to take the child to the hospital. They arrested me." The Etemad newspaper quoted this driver as saying that after his arrest, "I told the investigator that the father threw his child in front of my car. At that time, there was no one in the street, and I could not prove this incident. The judge said that I needed to check the surveillance camera footage to prove my claim. To get out of jail, I put up a 100 million tomans bail and was released that same day. The next day, the investigator told me that your car is insured, and you have a license, so there is no problem. But since this incident has upset me a lot, I wanted to make sure that this really happened or not." He said that the day after his release on bail, "the investigator said I had to prove this matter myself. At that moment, I went to the accident site and realized that the bank and jewelry store's cameras were positioned in such a way that they probably recorded the accident scene. On Saturday, I went back to the same place and went to court to obtain a warrant to review the bank's camera. I got the warrant and went back to the bank. At the bank, I watched the footage and then took it to court. It was there that it became clear that my claim was correct, and the investigator was also convinced that the father deliberately threw his child into the street." The Etemad newspaper wrote that this family "lives in poverty" and that "even in their home, there were no basic living facilities. They did not even have money to hold a mourning ceremony for their son, and the ceremony they held was not at all like a funeral. The house where many people lived together, and none of them had jobs." The newspaper Shargh reported that in the fourth session of the trial of the second and third defendants in the oil corruption case during the previous government, Mehdi Shams, one of the defendants, stated: "Relevant authorities had confirmed Babak Zanjani; the Ministry of Oil had confirmed Zanjani's LCs, and Khatam al-Anbia Headquarters and Bank Mellat; these can also be partners in this work." According to this newspaper, Mehdi Shams also stated that during the sanctions, "the banking system was locked due to sanctions, and apart from Zanjani, the police and the IRGC, no one else could take oil; so much so that to buy an airplane, we had to pass it through five hands to make the purchase. At that time, everyone intended to help to create a jihadist reputation for themselves; however, they withdrew; it was this Minister of Oil (Rostam Qasemi) who courageously made this decision," adding that the economic deputy of the IRGC intelligence, General "N," had fully confirmed Zanjani and stated that there was no negative point regarding Zanjani.