"Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are," the saying goes and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's second cabinet surely says a good deal about who he is. Ahmadinejad presented his 21-minister cabinet to parliament in two rounds: 20 August 2009, where 18 of his cabinet candidates gained a parliamentary vote of confidence thanks to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's intervention, and on 15 November 2009 where the cabinet was completed. In addition, since the 12 June election, Ahmadinejad has appointed 14 vice-presidents and advisers by presidential decree, bringing his immediate network up to 35, as reported by the Iranian presidency's website.

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Ali Alfoneh is a visiting research fellow at AEI.

Photo credit: UN Photo/Rick Bajornas