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: 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 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.

Iran deliberates policies to counter UN sanctions

The head of Iranian Parliament's Economic Committee, Arsalan Fathipour, has said that Iranian parliament has outlined a number of policies aimed at countering the UN sanctions over the country's nuclear programme.

Fathipour said the changes related to a number of areas including trade, transport and foreign exchange, but gave no details of the measures outlined, saying the policies will be conveyed to the speaker of the parliament, Ali Larijani, in due course.

Earlier in June, the UN passed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran restricting the country's financial transactions, and later additional sanctions in July targeting Iran's business trade with international companies.

Talking about the sanctions, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that UN-backed sanctions are “biting” Iran's economy, and added that, “The Iranian regime is quite worried about the impact”.

The Iranian government, however, has adamantly denied the sanctions' effectiveness on the country's economy and has said that they hace not impacted Iran's nuclear program.

Source: Bloomberg

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

Iran in need of Libyan support

Libyan relations with Iran have changed, on the surface at least; from a patronising Iran undertaking only small-scale joint projects in Libyan education, health and petroleum, to a situation where Iran apparently needs Libyan support.

In many ways, the roles of the two states have altered to give Libya a stronger position than formerly. Mutual support in the UN was clearly seen during the last few years when Iran backed a successful Libyan bid to take one of the 47 seats on the UN Human Rights Council.

This was achieved partly by a decision of the US not to blackball the Libyan leader but also by Iran's help in mustering the votes of the majority of the Asian-African bloc. Future co-operation of Libya with Iran might, in the future, generate a more antipathetic response in the US.

In mid-June, a senior member of the Islamic Republic, Dr Ali Larijani, made a strong point to the Libyan Ambassador in Iran, Sa'ad Mujber that no objections now existed to dampen an expansion of Libyan-Iranian relations.

In early July, ties were also consolidated by a series of mutual congratulations begun by the Secretary of Iran's Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei, when he stated that relations between Tripoli and Tehran would be strengthened by agreements covering areas such as energy and construction.

At a meeting between Rezaei and Mujber, the former went out of his way to praise Colonel Qadhafi's achievements, while the Ambassador made a considerable impression when he, in turn, described Iran as an influential and powerful country in the MENA region.

The question of sanctions against Iran proposed by the UN also strengthened the Iranian wish for Libya to be on its side in reducing the weight of the new regulations introduced by the US and France. Libya has not yet officially responded to the Iran sanctions situation at the UN but is known to be against the US on the issue.

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

For more news and expert analysis about Libya, please see Libya Focus and Libya Politics & Security.

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