Minister firing sparks outcry at Iran's president

[December 14, 2010]  TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's brusk firing of his foreign minister drew sharp criticism at home Tuesday, re-igniting divisions between him and fellow conservatives who have long resented what they see as the Iranian president's power grabs.

What remains unclear is the more crucial question of whether the move will cause tensions between Ahmadinejad and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who holds ultimate power in the country and has clashed with the president over political appointments in the past.

Khamenei has not spoken publicly about the firing, announced Monday. But Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor of a top conservative newspaper who is considered close to the supreme leader, blasted the way the dismissal was carried out as an "open insult."

Ahmadinejad announced Manouchehr Mottaki's dismissal while the diplomat was in the middle of an official trip to Africa. Mottaki is allied to conservative rivals of the president and is seen as close to the supreme leader. In his place, Ahmadinejad named a figure seen as more personally loyal to him as caretaker minister -- nuclear chief and vice president Ali Akbar Salehi.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ramin Mehmanparast, underlined on Tuesday that the firing will not bring "any alteration of Iran's basic policies," including in nuclear talks with world powers. He said Iran's foreign policy is "decided at higher levels," a reference to the president and Khamenei. Mottaki was expected back in the country later Tuesday.

But it could bring new confrontations between Ahmadinejad and rivals within his own conservative camp. The camp is united behind a strong loyalty to Khamenei and Iran's system of clerical rule, resisting calls from reformists for democratic change. But conservatives have been riven by divisions over Ahmadinejad, with some disillusioned by what they see as his mismanagement of the economy, firebrand style or his attempts to keep power among a tight circle of loyalists.

Conservative opponents hold a strong power base in parliament, led by the body's speaker Ali Larijani.

Criticism for now was focusing on the surprise nature of the dismissal -- and the added indignity of issuing it while Mottaki was abroad. But that could turn later into opposition to Ahmadinejad's nominee for his permanent replacement, whom lawmakers most approve.

Heshamtollah Falahatpisheh, a member of the powerful parliament committee for national security and foreign policy, called the manner of the firing "against custom" and said lawmakers are "waiting for explanations by the president."

Even an Ahmadinejad ally on the committee Ismail Kowsari told the Fars news agency, "I do not support the way Mr. Mottaki was dismissed. He was on an official visit."

An editorial in the conservative daily Tehran-e Emrouz described the way Mottaki was fired as "unjustifiable," since it undermined the country's whole diplomatic service.

"What credit or support does (a minister fired in the middle of a foreign mission) have to defend the country's national interests? What's the guarantee that his successor won't meet the same fate?" it asked.

Ahmad Bakhshayesh, a professor of politics in Tehran University, told The Associated Press that Mottaki was replaced "Since he had some differences with Ahmadinejad on some tactics in foreign policy."

For instance, he said, "Mottaki was committed to diplomatic dignities and did not follow attitudes of Ahmadinejad," who is famous for his anti-West rhetoric.

Ahmad Tavakkoli, a long-standing conservative opponent of Ahmadinejad in parliament, said the dismissal would weaken Iran's Foreign Ministry and send a message to the world that "stability does not reign in the country and one individual will do whatever he wants."

Some of the tensions between Ahmadinejad and Mottaki have spilled out into public in this closely guarded nation.

In the past months, Mottaki opposed a decision by Ahmadinejad to appoint his own special foreign envoys to key areas such as the Middle East, Afghanistan and the Caspian Sea region. Mottaki reportedly complained to the supreme leader, who sided with Mottaki and forced the president to moderate his position.

Shariatmadari, editor of the hard-line daily Keyhan suggested that the differences between Ahmadinejad and Mottaki had never been resolved. He pointed out that Ahmadinejad had recently sent his office's chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, on a mission to Jordan to deliver a message to King Abdullah II.

"Perhaps Mottaki protested the mission," Shariatmadari wrote in an editorial Tuesday.

[Associated Press; By NASSER KARIMI and ALI AKBAR DAREINI]

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