Iran’s president names first Sunni governor in 45 years

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks at the start of his press conference in Tehran, Iran. (File/AP)

• Arash Zerehtan was appointed head of the western state
• He is the first Sunni to be made a regional governor in the predominantly Shiite country

TEHRAN: Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian, on Wednesday nominated a member of the Sunni Muslim minority to be governor of Kurdistan province, official media reported.
Arash Zerehtan was appointed head of the western state, IRNA news agency said, citing government spokesman Fatemeh MoHajjerani.
He is the first Sunni to be made a regional governor in the predominantly Shiite country since the earliest days of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Zerehtan, 48, served as a member of parliament for the city of Paveh between 2020 and this year.
Sunnis account for about 10 percent of Iran’s population, where the vast majority are Shiites and Shiite Islam is the official state religion.
They have very rarely held key positions of power since the revolution.
Pezeshkian, 69, took office in July after an early election following the death of ultraconservative president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.
During his election campaign, Pezeshkian criticized the lack of representation for ethnic and religious minorities, in particular Sunni Kurds, in important positions.
In August, he made another member of the Sunni minority, Abdolkarim Hosseinzadeh, one of his vice presidents.