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TEHRAN (AFP) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad named a close ally as caretaker oil minister on Thursday after his bid to take personal charge of the strategic sector sparked a political row with parliament.

"In view of your effective record in government... you are appointed as caretaker oil minister," said a decree posted on the presidential website naming Mohammad Aliabadi to the post.

Ahmadinejad had announced on May 15 that he was taking charge of the portfolio on an interim basis after the dismissal of oil minister Masoud Mirkazemi in a streamlining of the cabinet.

The announcement provoked a showdown with Iran's conservative-dominated parliament that triggered the intervention of the Guardians Council watchdog body, which ruled on May 23 that Ahmadinejad had