Top Guards man is Iran oil minister

Iran’s parliament approved President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s candidate as oil minister yesterday, putting a military commander who is under US and EU sanctions in charge of oil and gas in one of the world’s biggest crude producers. A majority of lawmakers - 216 of the 246 present - voted for Rostam Qasemi, a Revolutionary Guards commander who headed the elite military body’s construction and engineering company, sending a defiant message to Iran’s foes. The vote also signalled an easing of parliament’s hostility towards Ahmadinejad after months of accusing him of a power grab before a parliamentary election in March. But critics said it would boost concern about the increasing influence of the Revolutionary Guards, the military force which has expanded its economic activities in recent years. Ahmadinejad told parliament Qasemi was a “child of the revolution” with industrial as well as military experience. “He comes to the oil ministry with the mastery and full knowledge of this industry and wants to transform this complex in line with national interests,” Ahmadinejad said. While many lawmakers voiced support for Qasemi, one parliamentarian said his appointment was worrying. “The Revolutionary Guards, as a military power, should not get involved with political and economic power,” Ali Motahari, a prominent conservative who is an outspoken critic of Ahmadinejad, told the house. “Unlike in neighbouring countries where the military is withdrawing from the political arena, a reverse trend has started in our country which does not seem to be an auspicious sign.” In a rare intervention, speaker Ali Larijani, also a critic of the president, spoke out for Qasemi. “The Revolutionary Guards don’t want to grab the country’s politics,” he said. “I ask you not to deprive the country of the services of the Revolutionary Guards.” He urged a strong show of support for Qasemi as a signal to Iran’s foreign enemies: “So (they) do not think that when they impose sanctions parliament will pay any attention,” he said. “If he were an unsuccessful person then his name wouldn’t be on the sanctions list,” Larijani added.    Qasemi comes from Khatam Al Anbia, the Guards’ company initially set up to conduct infrastructure work after the eight-year war with Iraq that followed the 1979 Islamic Revolution. It has since executed oil projects worth a total of $25bn, the official news agency Irna reported recently, quoting Ahmed Qalebani, managing director of the state National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC). Qasemi’s position there drew the attention of Western countries that say they believe the Revolutionary Guards and its affiliates are involved in Iranian efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran denies having any such goal. The European Union put him on a sanctions list in July 2010, meaning he is not allowed to travel or hold assets in the EU. That echoed a similar US measure five months earlier. Far from hurting his chances, however, the sanctions further burnished Qasemi’s credentials with parliament, as he told lawmakers at a hearing on Sunday: “The US has imposed sanctions against me ... and that country is not important.” The new minister will take over while Iran holds the largely symbolic rotating presidency of Opec, where it has resisted the calls of more Western-friendly producers to increase output quotas. It was not immediately clear if the EU sanctions would prevent him from travelling to Opec headquarters in Vienna. Iran’s nuclear energy chief Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani was able to attend a nuclear safety meeting in the Austrian capital in June, despite being under UN sanctions. Qasemi’s most important task will be to stem declining output from Iran’s mature oil fields and develop gas resources suffering from sanctions restricting foreign investment. “Regardless of the efforts of some countries, we will try to maintain Iran’s status as Opec’s second oil producer,” he told parliament.