President Mohammad Khatami will make a big reshuffle in his cabinet by
changing at least eight ministers and vice presidents, the
pro-reformist newspaper Iran Daily reported on Tuesday.

The reported move comes in the wake of the formation of a parliament
dominated by the president's reformist allies.

Although there is no official confirmation of possible changes, it is
rumored that some cabinet members may not retain their ministerial
posts while some others will change their posts, the daily said.

First Vice President Hassan Habibi, who functions as prime minister,
will be replaced by Mohammad Ali Najafi, vice president and chairman of
the Plan and Budget Organization (PBO), the daily said. Habibi, who had
served in his post for more than a decade, reportedly intends to
retire.

The post of PBO head will be taken by Mohammad Reza Aref, current
minister of post, telegraph and telephone while his deputy Davoodi
Shamsi will take his place, it said.

Mohsen Rezaie, current secretary of the powerful advisory State
Expediency Council headed by former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, will
be a possible replacement of Mohammad Hashemi, Rafsanjani's brother, to
be the vice president for executive affairs.

The reformists, victorious in the February parliamentary elections,
dislike Hashemi, who had slammed the reformists for their opposition to
Rafsanjani's participation in the elections.

Rafsanjani secured a seat in the new parliament, but later quitted as
his bid for parliament speakership appeared gloomy.

Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani will become interior minister to succeed
Abdolvahed Musavi Lari, who will go to the Ministry of Culture and
Islamic Guidance to take the place of Ataollah Mohajerani, the daily
said.

Mohajerani, an advocate for freedom of press and expression, has come
under fierce attack by the conservatives, who still control most of the
power state organs.

Iran Daily said the embattled Mohajerani will take the post of
education minister while Minister of Economic and Financial Affairs
Hossein Namazi will be replaced by Hossein Kazempour Ardebili,
currently deputy oil minister.

Since the February elections in which reformists upset conservative
dominance of the parliament, Khatami has been pushed by his allies to
make major changes in his cabinet to remove those who were not fully
committed to reforms.

The current cabinet, formed in August 1997, is a coalition of the
reformist party of Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), the
pro-Rafsanjani centrist Party of Constructive Executives of Iran (PCEI)
and the leftist Assembly of Combatant Clergy (ACC) headed by the new
parliament Speaker Mehdi Karrubi.

But relations between the Khatami's reformists and Rafsanjani's
centrists soured before the February elections over whether Rafsanjani
should run for a parliament seat and ultimately the speakership.
