Tehran, Sep 3 (DPA) The Iranian parliament Thursday rejected the endorsement of two of the three proposed female cabinet ministers and only approved Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi as health minister, the first-ever female minister in the 30-year history of the Islamic republic.
The two other female ministers, Susan Keshavarz for social welfare and Fatemeh Ajorlou for education, were rejected by the 286 deputies present at the voting.
The third rejected minister was Mohammad Ali-Abadi, a close aide of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who was nominated for the energy ministry.
The remaining 18 ministers were approved, including Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi, who got one of the highest votes.
General Vahidi spurred protests in Argentina, where justice officials have accused him of taking part in the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community centre AMIA, which killed 85 people.
The legislators shouted “Death to Israel” after the result of Vahidi’s vote was announced.
The parliament said earlier in a statement that due to the accusations and “Zionist (Israeli) propaganda”, there would not only be no veto, but instead huge support for Vahidi.
