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Pezeshkian names first Sunni governor-general in 45 years
Arash Zerehtan was appointed head of the western province, IRNA news agency said, citing government spokesman Fatemeh Mohajerani.
He is the first Sunni to be appointed as a governor-general in the country since the earliest days of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Zerehtan, 48, has served as a member of parliament for the city of Paveh since 2020.
Sunnis account for about 10 percent of Iran’s population, where the vast majority are Shias.
Pezeshkian, 69, took office in July after an early election following the death of 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 community, Abdolkarim Hosseinzadeh, one of his vice presidents.