Ahmadinejad Appoints Nuclear Chief as Iran's Foreign Minister

Iran' s Atomic organisation head Ali-Akbar Salehi (l) whispers to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, April 2010. EPA/BGNES

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has named Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the country's controversial nuclear program, as the new Foreign Minister.

On Monday, Dec. 13, 2010, Ahmadinejad sacked Iran's previous Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, while the latter was on a visit to Senegal, without giving any reason publicly.

Iranian state TV reported that Ali Akbar Salehi was introduced as Iran's interim Foreign Minister on Saturday. The sacked minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, has refused to attend the ceremony.

The reshuffle comes just days after Iran represented by Salehi resumed its nuclear program talks with the E3 + 3 powers (EU's UK, France, and Germany plus the USA, Russia, and China), which were represented by the EU High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy Catherine Ashton.

The US and the EU have been concerned for about a decade now that Iran's nuclear program, despite being advertised as peaceful, is being used to develop nuclear weapons. International sanctions, however, have done little to reverse Tehran's resolve to develop its nuclear program, with important progress being made in the recent months towards completing the nuclear fuel cycle.

Iran's new Foreign Minister Salehi has been the Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran since 16 July 2009. He was Iranian Representative in the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1997 to 2005.

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