Iran International:

The appointments of Mohammad Reza Aref, Mohammad Javad Zarif, and Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah, all in their 60s and 70s, to senior roles by President Masoud Pezeshkian have sparked debates about the age gap between Iran's leadership and its younger population.

Aref (74) was appointed as Iran's senior vice president, Zarif (64) as deputy for strategic affairs, and Ghaempanah, who is in his 60s, as vice president for executive affairs.

According to the latest figures available, Iranian between the ages of 20-39 comprise 31 million people, or more than one third of the population. Also, A 2020 study also showed that those between 25 to 40 years old comprised the largest part of the population.

Last week, when the first partial list of President Pezeshkian's proposed cabinet ministers was leaked to the press, critics noted that the average age of a majority of his potential cabinet ministers was higher than 62.

In a commentary on the Etemad Online website, pro-reform commentator Abbas Abdi wrote that the Iranian society is young and its male and female members are pluralist with a diversity of attitudes while those in top posts in the government are generally old males who share a single attitude on most issues.

In the commentary headlined "A young and diverse society and old and monolithic government," Abdi wrote that most Iranian managers are conservatives. However, he noted that hardline conservatives in the previous government were generally younger than officials in the governments formed before 2021.

He further noted that women have always had a very small share of government positions in Iran and men who did not subscribe to the official ideology were almost non-existent in the government.

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