President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's proposed new cabinet came in for criticism from some lawmakers in a heated parliamentary debate on Sunday, but one senior MP signaled support for the surprise oil minister nominee, Reuters reported.
The 290-member assembly must approve the hardline president's ministerial candidates and the outcome is seen as a test of his grip on power in Iran, the world's fifth-largest crude exporter, after his disputed re-election in June.
Parliament is expected to vote on the cabinet line-up on Wednesday and some deputies have said they are likely to reject several nominees due to their lack of experience.
Analysts say a stormy debate in parliament, less than three months after the election which plunged Iran into its deepest internal crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution, could damage Ahmadinejad politically.
"It is a weak cabinet ... we see that some proposed ministers without any experience in that ministry have been placed at the top of it," said MP Ali Motahari.
Another conservative critic of Ahmadinejad, who had a sometimes turbulent relationship with the legislature during his first term, questioned the nomination of current Defense Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar as new interior minister.
"Is it in the interest of the country to appoint a military man to the most political ministry? ... Would it help heal the divisions in the society?" asked MP Ahmad Tavakoli.
Other deputies voiced their support for the 21-member proposed cabinet, which includes the surprise nomination of Commerce Minister Massoud Mirkazemi as oil minister, a key post as crude sales account for most state revenue.