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Mon, Dec 13, 2010 | Fars News Agency | IRNA | CNN

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki replaced by President Ahmadinejad on Monday.

Ahmadinejad Removes Iran’s Foreign Minister Mottaki

According to the information dissemination center of the Presidential Office, President Ahmadinejad in a decree on Monday replaced Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and appointed Ali Akbar Salehi as the Foreign Ministry caretaker. In his letter, Ahmadinejad appreciated Mottaki’s efforts during his term.

Until Monday Salehi served as the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) and secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. Officials did not say if he would continue his other responsibilities as well. Unofficial sources told FNA that President of the Nuclear Sciences and Technologies Research Center Mohammad Qannadi [or spelled Mohammad Ghanadi Maraghei] will be appointed as the head of the AEOI after President Ahmadinejad appointed the former head of the nuclear body, Ali Akbar Salehi, as the caretaker of the Iranian Foreign Ministry. (Fars News Agency; Mon, Dec 13, 2010)

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is currently on an official visit to Senegal and submitted a message from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to his Senegalese counterpart Abdoulaye Wade on Monday. Mottaki in the meeting also briefed Wade on bilateral ties, joint economic projects, including the projects on production of cars and tractors in Senegal. Citing the pivotal role of Senegal in West of Africa, Mottaki praised the country’s contribution to restoration of peace and stability and settlement of regional crises. Wade for his part urged expansion of mutual cooperation, particularly in the auto and tractor industries, and mutual consultation on bilateral, regional and international issues. It will be Mottaki’s last visit to a country serving as Iran’s foreign minister. In a letter to Manouchehr Mottaki, President Ahmadinejad appreciated his services and prayed for his success. [IRNA; Mon, Dec 13, 2010]

It’s not known why the move was made.

Ali Akbar Salehi is appointed as the Foreign Ministry caretaker.

Mottaki has been one of the public faces in the international debate over Iran’s nuclear program. Tehran maintains the program exists for peaceful purposes, but the United States, Israel and other Western nations have expressed concern that the program’s goals is the production of nuclear weapons. Salehi had worked as the country’s representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been attempting to monitor the nation’s nuclear program. He was previously appointed interim head of the Foreign Ministry from 2007 to 2009, while also working as under-secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, according to the IRNA. Educated at the American University of Beirut, Salehi later received a doctorate in technical sciences in the United States in 1977, it said. He served as an associate professor and chancellor of Sharif University of Technology as well as head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the IRNA reported. [CNN; Mon, Dec 13, 2010]

It can be expected that this is another move by president Ahmadinejad to delay the talks with the G5+1 and to win time for it’s nuclear program to acquire a nuclear bomb.