Iran gets first woman as government spokesperson

Tehran: In another first, a woman will be the public face of the new Iranian government with Fatemeh Mohajerani being appointed the government spokesperson of Masoud Pezeshkian regime.

The appointment was made by President Pezeshkian in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Iranian media reported.

Mohajerani, 54, is a Doctor of Business Administration from Edinburgh and has earlier served as the head of the Technical and Vocational Training University of Shariati (for women) in the 11th government.

Mohajerani was named the head of the Centre for Brilliant Talents by then-Education Minister Seyyed Mohammad Bat’hai in 2017 and has held other positions in the Education Ministry too.

This is the latest appointment of a woman to a senior position. President Pezeshkian had, last week, appointed Shina Ansari as Iran’s Deputy President and Head of the Department of Environment.

Ansari, whose LinkedIn profile describes her as an experienced environmental specialist with a demonstrated history of working in environmental services and skilled in waste, RCRA, sustainable development, and environmental compliance, replaces Ali Salajegheh as head of the Department of Environment.

A PhD in Environmental Management from the Science and Research University, she was presently the Advisor at the Air Quality Control Centre at Tehran Municipality and previously had been Head of Environment and Sustainable Development at the Municipality and General Director of the Bureau of Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Monitoring in the Department of Environment.

Pezeshkian’s cabinet also has (post-1979 Islamic Revolution) Iran’s second woman minister with Farzaneh Sadeq Malvajard being approved as the Roads and Urban Development Minister. The Deputy Minister of Urban Planning and Architecture from January 2019 to July 2023, she got 230 out of 285-odd lawmakers present and voting despite some opposition when her name was read out in Parliament when the ministerial choices were submitted earlier this month.

Sadeq, 48, follows Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi who was Health and Medical Education Minister in populist President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s second government (2009-13). (IANS)

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