TEHRAN, Iran: Iranian hard-liners in parliament on Wednesday voted against President Hassan Rouhani’s nominee for trade minister in the first showdown between the rival camps since the house resumed work in May despite the struggles to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
According to the parliament’s website, lawmakers rejected Hossein Modares Khiabani’s nomination for minister of trade and industries.
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the vote was 140-104 against the nominee. There were 254 lawmakers at the session and 10 abstained. The parliament has 290 seats.
The vote marked the first serious confrontation between the newly elected house, dominated by conservatives and the bloc of supporters of the relatively moderate Rouhani. Under the law, Rouhani must introduce new nominees to his Cabinet in the next three months.
Rouhani in May dismissed the trade and industry minister at the time, Reza Rahmani, as Iran faced an unprecedented economic downturn amid intense pressure from the United States after President Donald Trump pulled America out of Iran’s nuclear with world powers and reimposed sanctions on the country. Khiabani, 52, had since been the acting trade minister.
Iran is also grappling with the largest and deadliest outbreak of the coronavirus in the Middle East, with more than 331,000 confirmed cases and at least 18,800 deaths.
Iranian hard-liners in parliament reject president’s nominee
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Iranian hard-liners in parliament reject president’s nominee
- According to the parliament’s website, lawmakers rejected Hossein Modares Khiabani’s nomination for minister of trade and industries
- Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said the vote was 140-104 against the nominee
Israel police say two dead in stabbing, car ramming attack
- The attack came a day after an Israeli military reservist dressed in civilian clothes rammed his vehicle into a Palestinian man in the West Bank
JERUSALEM: A Palestinian from the Israeli-occupied West Bank killed a man and a woman in a stabbing and car-ramming attack in northern Israel before he was shot and wounded on Friday, Israeli police and rescuers said.
“Preliminary investigation indicates this was a rolling terror attack that began in the city of Beit Shean, where a pedestrian was run over,” the police said in a statement, adding the victim was a 68-year-old man.
“Later, a young woman was stabbed near Road 71, and the suspect was ultimately engaged with gunfire near Maonot Junction in Afula following intervention by a civilian bystander,” it said, adding that the attacker was taken to a hospital.
Both the victims succumbed to the injuries, Israel’s emergency service provider Magen David Adom said in a statement.
MDA also reported that a 16-year-old teenager was slightly injured when “hit by a vehicle.”
The Israeli military said the attacker had “infiltrated into Israeli territory several days ago.”
The attack came a day after an Israeli military reservist dressed in civilian clothes rammed his vehicle into a Palestinian man in the West Bank.
