Organizational Chart of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Iran’s Cabinet
Iran’s cabinet is comprised of ministers nominated by the president and confirmed by parliament, and vice presidents who are appointed directly by the president. In practice, the cabinet retains significant managerial authority over executive departments and ministries—particularly on domestic affairs. On foreign policy, the cabinet’s role is limited. Those retaining responsibility for foreign policy files—for example the foreign minister—also have seats on the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC). The SNSC—not the cabinet—is where significant system-wide debates occur on these issues. The cabinet also gives votes of confidence in selections for provincial governors-general.
The most powerful ministerial portfolios include foreign affairs, defense, intelligence, and oil. The Office of the Supreme Leader usually requires those nominations to be pre-approved before they are sent to parliament. For example, Iran’s supreme leader blocked Hossein Alaei from being nominated as defense minister in the Rouhani administration given his outspokenness against sensitive system equities, despite his Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) pedigree.
Typically, cabinet ministerships are occupied by former legislators, former members of the Artesh or IRGC, former provincial governors, onetime diplomats, and those who have served in the Iranian deep state, namely having been appointed to past posts by the Office of the Supreme Leader. A presidential cabinet in Iran does set the tone the system is choosing to present to the world at any given time. In the cabinet of Ebrahim Raisi, there was a revolving door between the judiciary, the Office of the Supreme Leader, and those with previous roles at Astan-e Quds Razavi, a massive religious foundation that Raisi previously headed. His administration was also stacked with those who have educational credentials from Imam Sadiq University, which is an Islamist ideological training ground for jihadi management in the Iranian system. This stands in contrast to the cabinets of Hassan Rouhani and Masoud Pezeshkian which attracted figures who were educated in the West—even at universities in the United States.
Members of President Masoud Pezeshkian's Cabinet:
