Mottaki says dismissal “un-Islamic” and “offensive”

Former Iranian foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, has called his sacking “un-Islamic” and “offensive.” Mottaki who was fired, by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while on an official state visit to Senegal, said he had not received warning about his impending removal from office.

Ahmadinejad's office has not released a statement regarding the sacking, but speculations have emerged that the dismissal is indicative of a power struggle in the government. Upon news of the dismissal several senior Iranian officials voiced criticism over Ahmadinejad decision. Since then, the Iranian parliament speaker and close ally of Mottaki, Ali Larijani, told the parliament: "The right way was that the change should have happened with prudence and observing dignity and not during the visit."

Speaking to the Mehr news agency, Mottaki said that the way his dismissal was handled was “outside the practices of politics.” He also said that he was not informed of the “appointment of a new person within 24 hours of my departure for the mission."

On Saturday 18th December, the foreign office held a function to officially introduce his replacement, nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi, even though the event was also supposed to be a farewell ceremony for Mottaki. Some senior officials, close to Ahmadinejad, have said that Mottaki was informed of his impending dismissal before travelling to Sengal.

Ahmadinejad and Mottaki have a long history of mutual distrust and while the president has managed to eject a critic from close quarters, some believe that the move may cause problems in a parliament increasingly disenchanted with the presidency.

The news of Mottaki's comments comes amid reports that Iran has cut the country's fuel and food subsidies, which means a four-fold increase in the price of petrol and reduced subsidies for basic rations such as bread. The initiative took effect on Sunday 19th December, with plans for subsidies to be suspended permanently within the next five years.

Under the initiative, every car will get 60 litres of fuel per month at a subsidised price of 40 cents per litre, up from 10 cents per litre. The Islamic republic said that it pays out in excess of $100 billion in subsidies each year, with bread subsidies accounting for another $4 billion annually.

Some world economists fear that an increase in prices will also be applied to domestic amenities such as water, electricity, and other consumables such as flour and thus increase inflation already estimated at 20 per cent.

Iran's subsidy initiative restructure is said to be part of the government's plant to decrease domestic demand for fuel, thereby making the country more fuel-efficient and prosperous from its natural resources.

Sources: BBC News, CNN, The Washington Post, Trend, Press TV

For more news and expert analysis about Iran, please see Iran Strategic Focus.

Iran says the sacking of Mottaki will not impact foreign policy

Iran says its foreign policy will not be affected by the recent sacking of the country's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fired Mottaki on Monday 13th December for reasons which have not been disclosed.

The presidential directive to Mottaki's interim replacement, Iran's nuclear energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi read “Considering your commitment, knowledge, and valued expertise, and in accordance with Article 135 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and based on this decree you are appointed as acting foreign minister.”

Speaking to the press on Tuesday 14th December, Iran's Foreign Ministry's Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said that Mottaki's removal from office “will not see any alteration of Iran's basic policies” as they are "decided at higher levels".

Mehmanparast also added that the sacking will not affect the country's stance on its nuclear programme and that the decision to fire Mottaki was due to practical reasons, but declined to elaborate. He went on to commend Mottaki and laud his successor Salehi.

Some members of the parliament have criticized Ahmadinejad's impromptu decision, which may have been a result of a power struggled between Iran's ruling conservatives and Ahmadinejad's opponents with whom Mottaki was allied.

Iranian media has expressed shock about the sudden dismissal of the foreign minister, questioning why it took place while Mottaki was on a stake visit to Senegal. Mehmanparast declined to comment about the timing.

Kayhan daily described the sacking as a “clear insult” to Mottaki who had been the country's Foreign Minister since 2005. The newspaper implied that the sacking was a result of a disagreement between Ahmadinejad and Mottaki over “parallel diplomacy” which transpired in summer following Ahmadinejad's attempts to appoint his aides as envoys to work alongside the foreign office. It is believe that, Ahmadinejad's decision to back down was heavily influenced by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Former Iranian president Abolhassan Bani Sadr called the firing "scandalous," and noted that Ahmadinejad is trying to convince the world that he and Supreme Leader Khamenei are "in charge" of Iran's foreign policy.

Sadr also stressed that Khamenei would have no doubt seconded Ahmadinejad's decision. He also said that the choice of Salehi as the replacement could be a signal to the West that he and Khamenei will be the ultimate arbiteurs during nuclear negotiations in January.

Iranian lawmakers, who will have to approve the new appointee, have also voiced concern over Mottaki's sacking and the way it transpired. A senior member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Esmail Kowsari said," I do not approve of the manner Mr Mottaki was dismissed, because he was on duty in Senegal when his dismissal order was issued."

Kowsari added that a commission would have to review and approve the appointment of Salehi as an interim foreign minister. Salehi, who was appointed as Iran's atomic energy chief in 2009, has been a driving force behind the country's nuclear programme.

Sources: Voice of America, BBC News, PressTV

For more news and expert analysis about Iran, please see Iran Strategic Focus.

Iran: Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki sacked

The Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has fired foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki, for undisclosed reasons. Mottaki, currently on an official visit to Senegal, was appointed as the country's foreign minister in 2005.

It has been said that there has not been any sign of discord between Ahmadinejad and Mottaki to indicate that the foreign minister might loose his job. Mottaki was the key negotiator in Iran's nuclear dealings with the West. Ahmadinejad has appointed Iran's top nuclear official Ali Akbar Salehi as an interim replacement for Mottaki.

There has been speculation that Mottaki's dismissal may be a strategic move among the ruling conservatives in Iran. It has also been said that Ahmadinejad did not entirely trust Mottaki who was the campaign manager for one of Ahmadinejad's election rivals, Ali Larijani.

Mattaki's firing may anger Ahmadinejad's conservative opponents in parliament, but the sacking is highly likely to have been supported by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. It may also be another indication that the supreme leader continues to back Ahmadinejad.

Source: BBC News

For more news and expert analysis about Iran, please see Iran Strategic Focus.

Iran in talks with UN about its nuclear programme

Iran and key world powers have begun talks about Tehran's nuclear programme. On Sunday 5th November, Iran delivered its first raw uranium and said it would go into the discussions with “strength and power”.

The West fears that Iran may be gearing its programme for production of nuclear arms, however, Tehran maintains that its enrichment activities are purely for peaceful purposes. Speaking about the meeting in Geneva, Iran's nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, said the meeting was for the benefit of the other countries, not Iran.

"We want to create a graceful solution out of the political deadlock for those who have pressurised us," said Salehi.

Iran's main nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, is meeting EU foreign affairs chief, Catherine Ashton, and senior officials from the five members of the UN Security Council – US, Russia, China, France, Britain – and Germany.

The talks, held near the Swiss mission to the UN, are expected to last two days. But experts say that Iran is unlikely to agree to suspend its enrichment programme as insisted on by the Security Council.

Iran's announcement in advance of the talks, that it is now able to produce its own yellowcake, crushed uranium ore which is turned into a gas for enrichment, has given it a new confidence that it can ride out sanctions.

The last talks, in October 2009, saw a breakthrough as Iran agreed to export low-enriched uranium for processing abroad but then stipulated new conditions and reneged on the deal. The UN Security Council has said that until Iran's intentions for its nuclear programme are clearly established, that it should cease its enrichment activities.

Iran is currently under four sets of UN sanctions due to its disregard for Security Council's calls to suspend its uranium enrichment. The latest sanctions, adopted on 9th June, include a ban on business with Iranian banks and insurance companies and steps to prevent foreign investment in the country's oil and gas sector.

Iran has countered Western fears by saying that as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it has the right to enrich uranium for fuel utilised for civil nuclear power. Tensions over the nuclear issue reached their peak when one of Iran's top nuclear scientists was killed in a car bomb on Monday 29th November. Iran accused Western powers of masterminding the attack.

Enriched uranium can be used for fuel in reactors or made into nuclear bombs. Iran's announcement that it has produced its first domestically manufactured uranium yellowcake was no surprise according to White House National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer.

"However... this calls into further question Iran's intentions and raises additional concerns at a time when Iran needs to address the concerns of the international community," he added.

Source: BBC News

For more news and expert analysis about Iran, please see Iran Strategic Focus.

Iran to increase security measures for its scientists

Iran has said that it will increase security measures for its nuclear scientists, after one of its experts was killed and another wounded in corresponding bomb attacks in Tehran on Monday 29th November.

Speaking about the attacks, the Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation Ali Akbar Salehi told ISNA news agency that the government has been, “pursuing serious protective measures for hundreds of our scientists and experts since last year and, based on the recent decision, we are to increase protection measures multiple-fold and take other steps as well."

The two bombings were perpetrated by assailants on motorbikes. One of the bombs killed Majid Shahriari, of the nuclear engineering faculty at the Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, and the other injured Fereidoun Abbasi, a nuclear physicist described by the UN as being "involved in nuclear or ballistic missile activities".

Earlier in the year, another Iranian scientist, Masoud Ali Mohammadi, was killed in a similar attack. Iran has accused the West and Israel of carrying out these assassinations, but analysts believe that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard may be behind the attacks aimed as a means to prevent potential defections.

Salehi said that Iran already offered its scientist considerable protection, but that unfortunately the “devilish ways employed by enemies cannot be predicted." He reasoned that the West was responsible for the killings as a means to deprive the Islamic republic of power, saying "The enemy has found that Iran's nuclear work is advancing considerably and has turned into a symbol of power for the Iranian nation. It makes efforts to withhold the Iranian nation from the power, but they made a big mistake."

Additionally, Iran's Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani criticised the West for failing to condemn the attacks, saying "This move by the westerners, who are frequently condemning terrorist acts but have remained silent on the recent assassinations in Iran, is scandalous and disgraceful."

Source: Guardian

For more news and expert analysis about Iran, please see Iran Strategic Focus.

UN Inspectors denied entry in to Iran, again

The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Ali Akbar Salehi, has told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) it will not permit two of its inspectors on Iranian soil because the IAEA had prematurely published a report he deemed "untruthful" and containing "false information" on Iran's nuclear work.

Salehi said the inspectors will not be allowed into the country or granted permission to visit its nuclear facilities due to a report filed by the IAEA before the official examination.

"These two inspectors do not have the right to come to Iran because they leaked information before it was to be officially announced and they also filed a false report," Salehi told ISNA news agency.

Salehi also stated that the UN inspectors would not be allowed in to the country for disclosing, “classified information,” and said that Iran has asked the IAEA to replace the two inspectors with new officials, who would be allowed to visit the Islamic republic to carry out checks on its nuclear facilities.

The decision comes two weeks after the UN Security Council voted to impose a fourth set of sanctions on Iran on the grounds of its suspect nuclear programme. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council issued a report on Friday calling the new UN sanctions “illegal”. The US and the European Union have also expanded sanctions against Iran, to include a ban on new investment, technical assistance and transfers of technologies to Iran's key oil and natural gas sector, despite strong criticism from Russia's Foreign Ministry.

Sources: BBC News, AFP

To read the IAEA report on Iran please visit the International Atomic Energy Agency web site.

For more news and expert analysis on Iran please see Iran Strategic Focus.