TEHRAN: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed his long-serving foreign minister Monday and named one of his own close allies, atomic chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, as his interim replacement. The sacking of Manouchehr Mottaki is an indication of a struggle between the president and parliament in which the assembly has accused Ahmadinejad of concentrating more power in his own hands and riding roughshod over the views of lawmakers. There was no indication, however, that the switch signaled any shift in the country's nuclear policy or the broad lines of its foreign policy. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the last word on nuclear policy and other matters of state. “I appreciate your diligence and services as the foreign minister,” state news agency IRNA quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in a letter to Mottaki. Mottaki, a career diplomat, was appointed to the post of foreign minister in 2005. He is currently in Senegal on an official visit. He is viewed as an ally of conservative parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, who lost to Ahmadinejad in the 2005 election and is now seen as the key rival of the president in his political battle with the assembly. The president also partly sidelined the traditionally more liberal Foreign Ministry by appointing several regional foreign policy advisers who appeared more influential than the minister. Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization, was appointed as caretaker foreign minister, state television reported. IRNA said Salehi would also keep his nuclear post. “Salehi was Ahmadinejad's first choice for the Foreign Ministry in 2005 ... but Khamenei rejected Salehi,” said a moderate former official, who asked not to be named. Ahmadinejad is due in Turkey next week ahead of a second round of nuclear talks with major powers in Istanbul in January. The nuclear dispute is Iran's biggest foreign policy issue, with the West accusing it of seeking a nuclear weapons capability, a charge Tehran denies.
