New President Reappoints 1st VP

Newly sworn-in President Mohammad Khatami named Hassan Habibi as first vice president, a post he held under outgoing President Hashemi Rafsanjani. Khatami kept his Cabinet list under wraps, although Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Kamal Kharrazi, said he had been approached to become foreign minister, replacing Ali Akbar Velayati, who has held the post since two years after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Khatami must submit his list of ministers for approval by a parliament dominated by conservatives, whose hard-line speaker suffered a convincing defeat in the May presidential election.