Iran's parliament to consider bill abolishing religious requirements for intelligence minister

Iran's parliament is preparing to urgently consider a bill providing for the abolition of the mandatory requirement that the head of the Ministry of Intelligence hold religious qualifications.

This was stated by Abbas Goudarzi, a representative of the presiding board of the Majlis.

Under the proposed amendments, the future head of the agency will no longer be required to have ijtihad — the highest qualification in the field of Islamic law, which the heads of this security agency have traditionally been required to possess.

According to Goudarzi, the measure is intended to eliminate the personnel vacuum that has left the ministry without a permanent head for almost eight months.

In addition, as part of the reform, the agency plans to create two new structures responsible for internal security and ideological issues. Their heads will be appointed directly by Iran's Supreme Leader. At the same time, the candidate for the head of the ministry itself will, as before, be nominated by the president with subsequent approval in parliament.

It is noted that the creation of the new specialized directorates is intended to compensate for the abolition of the religious qualification requirements for the future minister.

Source: ISNA