Tehran  - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has appointed at least 13 new ministers, including three women, for his 21-member cabinet, the Fars news agency reported Wednesday.

According to the Fars report, five ministers were reinstated including Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, and two were replaced.

According to local reports, Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Saeid Jalili was supposed to succeed Mottaki but with the apparent reinstatement of the foreign minister, Jalili is expected to remain in his post.

The three women ministers are the former parliamentarians Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi and Fatemeh Ajorlou for the ministries of health and social welfare respectively, as well as Susan Keshavarz, who was promoted from deputy to minister of education.

The oil ministry is to be changed with former commerce minister Massoud Mir-Kazemi taking care of the country's key industrial ministry.

Fars reported that in the case of the telecommunication ministry, Ahmadinejad has not yet decided whether to reinstate Mohammad Suleymani or opt for deputy telecommunication minister Reza Taqipour.

For the intelligence ministry, the president appointed his close clerical ally Heydar Moslehi.

The Fars report has not yet been officially confirmed, and Ahmadinejad will present the final list to Parliament later Wednesday for approval.

Ahmadinejad's re-election is still highly disputed due to alleged fraud in the June 12 presidential election, which led to mass protests, mass arrests, killings of over 20 protestors and trials against more than 100 critics, including former reformist officials, on charges of espionage.

It is therefore not ruled out that the Parliament, headed by the president's political rival Ali Larijani, would approve all the proposed ministers by Ahmadinejad. (dpa)