TEHRAN — Iran’s newly appointed oil caretaker Mohammad Aliabadi will represent the country in the 159th OPEC meeting scheduled for June 8 in Vienna, sources close to the Tehran Times reported.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appointed on Thursday Mohammad Aliabadi as the caretaker oil minister, replacing the dismissed oil minister Masoud Mirkazemi.
The decision was taken after Majlis opposed Ahmadinejad’s takeover of the ministry.
Ahmadinejad dismissed Mirkazemi on May 12 in line with the plan to merge the oil ministry to the power ministry and took over the ministry.
The Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (2010-2015) states that the Iranian government is obliged to reduce its ministries form 21 to 17 to officially improve the efficiency of state administration.
Aliabadi had served as the head of Iran’s National Olympic Committee and also the head of Iran's Physical Education Organization.
---- MP criticizes naming Aliabadi as oil caretaker
An Iranian lawmaker says appointment of Mohammad Aliabadi as the caretaker of Iran's oil ministry is “the worst choice” for country's oil and gas industries, Press TV reported.
“This is the worst choice for the oil and gas industry, and such decisions endanger the country,” Majlis Energy Committee Chairman Hamid-Reza Katouzian said on Saturday.
Katouzian added that Aliabadi has no experience or expertise in the oil and gas fields.
“A minister who wants to manage the oil ministry must know the ropes …
[he] must be familiar with production and the problems in this industry, and know the international situation, but Mr. Aliabadi has none of these qualifications,” Katouzian said