TEHRAN – President Hassan Rouhani has launched a strong defense of his controversial cabinet reshuffle, calling on media outlets to put aside what he called “childish quarrels.” 

Rouhani was making the comments on Saturday in Tehran in a seminar held to mark National Day of Village and Nomads. 

“The country’s goal is development and transcendence, and the government’s goal is to be at the service of the society and people. To achieve the goal, sometimes a manager has to be kept and sometimes changed,” he said. 

In a cabinet reshuffle last week, President Rouhani agreed with the resignation of Culture Minister Ali Jannati, and reportedly dismissed sports and education ministers.

Although the cabinet changes were expected, it stirred a lengthy debate in Iranian media outlets. 

Some went to the extreme, particularly in discussing the current status of culture in the county, citing reasons for why Jannati should have stepped down much sooner. 

“Our media should avoid lies, accusations, division, and unwarranted factionalism,” the president emphasized.   

The cabinet revamp, some people familiar with the issue say, is part of the strategy pursued by the government to get rid of opponents’ criticism as the next year’s presidential election, due May, draws near. 

Regardless of how logical the decision maybe, what the Iranians now expect of the Rouhani administration is a better economic performance, the government’s Achilles heel. 

Ever since Rouhani took office in 2013, he succeeded close the nuclear dossier, championing a deal with the West. 

At the back of the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran is increasingly re-engaging with the global community.

This provides Rouhani a unique opportunity to grease the wheels of the Iranian economy and create job opportunities, what he has at nauseam cited as the cabinet’s all-time priority.

“Today, unemployment is a national-wide challenge and from the first day of the eleventh government, I have been telling to the country’s authorities as well as in my speeches that unemployment is the biggest problem for the country in the years to come.”

There is domestic voices against engaging with the world, seeing it a return to old days when Iran was a dependent, consumer country. 

On Friday, interim Friday Prayer preacher of Tehran Ayatollah Kazem Seddiqi said re-engagement with the global community will catapult the country into the Qajar and Pahlavi dynasties when Iran was extremely backward and dependent. 

AK/PA