Iran gets first female minister

       Parliament yesterday approved Iran's first woman minister,backed a relative novice as oil minister and installed as defence minister a man wanted by Argentina for an attack on a Jewish centre in 1994.
       Deputies rejected three of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's proposed new 21-member cabinet, which followed the hardliner's re-election in a disputed June election, the speaker announced.
       The outcome of parliament's voting signalled a limited setback for Mr Ahmadinejad, who had four of his firstchoice nominees rejected by the assembly in 2005.
       The June presidential poll, which was followed by huge opposition protests,plunged Iran into its deepest internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and exposed deepening divisions in its ruling elite. The legislature is dominated by conservatives, but some of Mr Ahmadinejad's supporters have abandoned him since the election. But crucially for Mr Ahmadinejad, heavyweight nominees including the oil, defence,intelligence, interior, economy and foreign ministers were all approved by MPs.
       "A new era of constructive cooperation between parliament and government started today,"Mr Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by official media Ahmadinejad shortly before the vote result was announced.
       The nomination of Ahmad Vahidi as defence minister has been condemned by Argentina, which accuses him of involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish centre that killed 85 people. Teheran has repeatedly denied any link to the attack.
       Mr Vahidi received the highest number of votes in favour of all nominees,227 out of 286 members of parliament present, in a show of defiance.
       Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi received the lowest number of votes of
       the approved ministers,147.
       Like several other nominees, Mr Mirkazemi, who was commerce minister in Mr Ahmadinejad's outgoing government, had been criticised for lack of experience.
       He faces the challenge of boosting oil and gas output under US and UN sanctions,imposed because of a dispute over Iran's nuclear programme.In 2005,Mr Ahmadinejad failed to get his first three choices for oil minister appointed due to parliamentary opposition.
       The three nominees who were rejected this time were the proposed energy, welfare and education ministers.
       Of three nominated female ministers,only Health Minister Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi was approved. She will become the Islamic Republic's first female minister. Mr Ahmadinejad has three months to propose new candidates to replace those voted down by the 290-seat parliament. Despite the rejection of some ministers, the cabinet can still start working and Mr Ahmadinejad has scheduled its first meeting for Sunday.
       The president's moderate foes say the June 12 election was rigged to secure his re-election and regard the government as illegitimate. The authorities deny the vote was fraudulent.
       Meanwhile, an ally of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has said 72 people were killed in the street protests that erupted after the disputed June presidential election, a reformist website reported yesterday.
       The death toll provided by Alireza Hosseini Beheshti showed an increase of three compared to an estimate he gave on Aug 11. The authorities say at least 26 people were killed and members of the pro-government Islamic Basij militia were among the dead.