[Al Arabiya Latest] Iran's parliament approved on Thursday 18 ministers, including the first-ever woman, and rejected three in President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's proposed new 21-member cabinet following his disputed re-election in June, state radio reported.Ahmadinejad, who had four of his first-choice nominees rejected by the assembly in 2005, has three months to propose new candidates to replace those voted down by the 290-seat parliament.
But the woman set to head the health ministry, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, had been expected to be confirmed after she presented an elaborate four-year plan on Tuesday.
Parliament also approved Ahmad Vahidi, a man Argentina says was involved in the 1994 bombing of a Buenos Aires Jewish center that killed 85 people, after five days of heated debate that saw several nominees opposed by conservative lawmakers.
MPs voted against energy, education and welfare ministers, but the cabinet can still start working and Ahmadinejad has scheduled its first meeting for Sunday, state radio said.