Parliament ends standoff over higher education minister

Iran's parliament has voted to approve President Hassan Rouhani's fifth candidate to head the higher education ministry, ending an ideological tussle over a cabinet post important to his pledge to liberalise life in the Islamic republic, writes Michelle Moghtader for Reuters.

Mohammad Farhadi, a centrist who held senior positions in a previous reformist administration, secured a 197-28 vote of confidence with 10 abstentions in the conservative-dominated Majlis, or parliament. It had rejected four other nominees of similar political leanings, citing mainly their alleged ties to mass unrest in 2009 over the disputed re-election victory of Rouhani's predecessor, conservative hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Full report on the Reuters site