Tehran--Hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sacked Manouchehr Mottaki from the position of Iranian foreign minister on Monday and appointed Iran's top nuclear official, Ali Akbar Salehi, as caretaker to the key post, the official IRNA news agency reported. "I appreciate your diligence and services as the foreign minister," IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in a letter to Mottaki. Mottaki is considered a close ally of Ahmadinejad's election rival, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, who is locked in a struggle with the president over the relative power of the parliamentary and executive branches of government. The move is a sign of deepened infighting between Ahmadinejad and Larijani, analysts say. IRNA said Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization and a close ally of Ahmadinejad, will keep his current job while acting as foreign minister. A source told the semi-official Fars news agency, however, that Mohammad Ghanadi, a senior nuclear official, might replace Salehi in the country's top nuclear post. Some observers believe that Mottaki was dismissed because he had criticized Ahmadinejad's foreign policy. "Mottaki failed to adjust himself to the president's viewpoints and foreign policy," the reformist Iranian website Mardomsalari reported. Khabaronline, a website closely connected to the government, said Mottaki "harshly criticized the president for setting up a parallel diplomatic apparatus" when appointing six foreign policy advisers. Ahmadinejad's government, backed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had crushed street protests that followed Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in June 2009. The vote created a deepening rift among ruling hardliners, some of whom resent Ahmadinejad's rising economic and political power. "Salehi was Ahmadinejad's first choice for the ministry in 2005... but Khamenei rejected Salehi," a moderate former official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Larijani, a fierce critic of Ahmadinejad's economic policies, had tacitly urged Khamenei to rein in the fiery president. Prominent lawmakers warned that they may take legal action against the president and even impeach him if he continues to ignore Iran's constitution. Critics accuse Ahmadinejad of spending petro-dollars without assembly approval.
