Ahmadinejad names 21-member cabinet

TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose disputed re-election plunged the nation into its worst crisis since the Islamic revolution, has unveiled his cabinet, the ISNA news agency reported Thursday.

Three women feature in the 21-member government, a first in the 30-year history of the Islamic republic.

The line-up was submitted to parliament late on Wednesday, two weeks after Ahmadinejad was sworn in on August 5, ISNA said.

Lawmakers will begin examining the names from August 23 before holding a confidence vote on August 30.

Here is the list of Ahmadinejad's proposed ministers: Minister of Foreign Affairs: Manouchehr Mottaki Minister of Oil: Masoud Mir Kazemi Minister of Defence: Ahmad Vahidi Minister of Intelligence: Heyder Moslehi Minister of Justice: Morteza Bakhtiari Minister of Interior: Mostafa Mohammad Najjar Minister of Economy: Shamseddin Hosseini Minister of Commerce: Mehdi Ghazanfari Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance: Mohammad Hosseini Minister of Education: Sousan Keshavarz (f) Minister of Cooperatives: Mohammad Abbasi Minister of Welfare and Social Security: Fatemeh Ajorlou (f) Minister of Industries and Mines: Ali Akbar Mehrabian Minister of Agriculture Jihad: Sadeq Khalilian Minister of Communications and Information Technology: Reza Taghipour Minister of Energy: Mohammad Aliabadi Minister of Health: Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi (f) Minister of Housing and Urban Development: Abdolreza Sheikholeslami Minister of Labour and Social Affairs: Ali Nikzad Minister of Science, Research and Technology: Kamran Daneshjoo Minister of Transport: Hamid Behbahani.