The first governor of Iran’s fractious Sistan-Baluchistan province from the Baluch minority was appointed by the government on Wednesday.
Following a cabinet meeting, government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said, “Mansour Bijar was chosen as the governor of Sistan-Baluchistan.”
Bijar, 50, is from the Baluch community, which is mostly Sunni Muslims and lives in a country with a Shia majority.
His appointment comes after the militant group Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice) claimed responsibility for an attack in Sistan-Baluchistan that resulted in the deaths of at least ten police officers.
Sistan-Baluchistan is one of the Islamic republic’s poorest provinces, bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan.
It has long been a hotspot for separatist and Sunni extremist attacks across the border, and it frequently sees confrontations between armed groups and security forces.
Both Iran and the United States view Jaish al-Adl, which was founded in 2012 by Baluch separatists, as a “terrorist organization.”
Iran appointed the first Sunni governor of Kurdistan province since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 in September.
Abdolkarim Hosseinzadeh, a politician from the Sunni minority, was appointed vice president for rural development by President Masoud Pezeshkian in August.
Later, lawmakers blocked his appointment, with one of them, Mehrdad Lahouti, claiming that the legislature had voted to keep Hosseinzadeh in the legislature due to his “capabilities and experience.”
However, they voted in favor of his resignation on Wednesday.
The parliament did not provide any additional information regarding the change’s motivation.
Likewise last week, the public authority named Mohammad Reza Mavalizadeh as the primary Middle Easterner lead representative for southwestern Khuzestan region, which has an enormous Bedouin minority.
About 10% of the people living in Iran are Sunnis. The state’s official religion is Shia Islam.
