Ahmadinejad named nuclear chief and vice president Ali Akbar Salehi foreign minister, who is seen as more personally loyal to him.
By The Associated Press
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.
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