The Facial Hair Guide to Iran's New Cabinet

Facial hair does not make a man a good Muslim, rather his faithful roots. This quasi-religious maxim applies well to the language of politics in Iran, and can be helpful in describing how the outer appearance of politicians varies from their truer selves. For example, many reformist politicians may have beards, or as it's often termed, are 'beardos.' But in the eyes of the conservative Principalists, they are only keeping up the appearance of piety and lack real religious roots, meaning they aren't loyal to the basic ideals of the Islamic Republic. But the reformists accuse of the Principalists of the same thing – they believe that Principalists, with their outwardly Muslim appearance, have inflicted the most damage on Islam. The new government of President Hassan Rouhani, whose cabinet is entirely composed of men, is dense with beards. Many of these beards, however, don't belong to men who are considered by the Principalists as being sufficiently loyal to the Islamic Republic, as having sufficient roots.

The cabinet includes faces like that of Mohammad Javad Zarif, the nominee for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Zarif is a seasoned diplomat with a distinguished record of dealing skillfully with his Western counterparts, who have widely considered him a charming, consummate professional known to have the Supreme Leader's trust. Those qualities have been key to Zarif's successes in the past, but they produce anxiety amongst his conservative detractors in Iran, who tend to view diplomacy as a zero-sum game and the very fact of Zarif's popularity with his Western interlocutors as a mark of distrust. Zarif  will have to prove this week to the Principalists, when seeking parliament's vote of approval, that he doesn't have just a trim goatee, but deep roots as well. 

Disclaimer: the beards you see here above are Iranwire's best attempt at depicting the variety of modes of facial hair sported by the prospective cabinet. While they are largely accurate, we do not claim that they are perfectly so.