Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was suddenly dismissed from his position Monday by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Mottaki was meeting with his counterpart in Senegal to deliver a message from Ahmadinejad as part of a tour of African nations when he was informed of the change.
No reason was given for the dismissal.
According to a brief statement posted on the Iranian president's website, Ahmadinejad thanked Mottaki for his years of service but gave no explanation for his actions. The 57-year-old career diplomat, who speaks fluent English, Turkish and Urdu, has taken the heat at home for international sanctions imposed on the country to pressure Iran into abandoning its nuclear development activities, according to a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Mottaki had served as foreign minister since Ahmadinejad was first elected president in 2005. However, he has also served as campaign manager for one of Ahmadinejad's rivals, former nuclear chief Ali Larijani, currently Speaker of the Iranian Parliament. Mottaki and Larijani both belong to a conservative bloc that has criticized Ahmadinejad's inflammatory speeches as having placed Iran in a vulnerable position.
A fourth round of increasingly severe economic sanctions against Iran was approved by the United Nations Security Council in June.
Ahmadinejad appointed Iranian Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, who also heads the nation's Atomic Energy Organization, to temporarily replace the foreign minister. Iran has several vice presidents, and it is actually the country's Islamic Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who determines its nuclear policy.
Iran's refusal to halt its uranium enrichment program combined with Ahmadinejad's repeated threats to destroy the State of Israel, have raised concerns about the true goals of its nuclear development program.
Israel, the United States and a number of Western nations believe that Iran is intent on building an atomic weapon, despite the Islamic Republic's insistence that it is continuing to enrich uranium solely for peaceful domestic purposes.