Tehran - Iran's new President, Mr Mohammad Khatami, yesterday named Mr Hassan Habibi as first vice-president, a post he held under outgoing President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. But he kept his cabinet list under wraps, although Iran's ambassador to the UN, Mr Kamal Kharrazi, said he had been approached to become foreign minister.
President Khatami, who took the oath of office yesterday, must submit his list of ministers for approval by a parliament dominated by conservatives, whose hardline speaker, Mr Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, went down to a heavy defeat in the May presidential election.