Iranian President-elect Hassan Rouhani is to nominate Bijan Zanganeh to return to the post of oil minister which he held from 1997 to 2005, the year hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to office, Iran's ISNA news agency said on Monday.

Quoting sources in Rouhani's office, it also said the moderate cleric, elected last month and due to be inaugurated on August 4, would nominate Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations from 2002 to 2007, to the post of foreign minister. Parliament must approve all the president's ministerial nominations.

Meanwhile, Rouhani is also set to nominate Mohammad Forouzandeh as head of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), a position which would automatically make him Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, said the news agency, quoting sources inside Rouhani's office.

Forouzandeh is a former Revolutionary Guard and a current member of the SNSC and head of a large and economically powerful state charitable foundation. There was no official confirmation of the report. - Reuters