Mottaki Dismissed As Iranian Foreign Minister - And What It Means

In a surprise move, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was dismissed from his position with a brief statement by Iran's President Ahmadinejad while Mottaki was on a diplomatic visit to Senegal.Mottaki had been Iran's foreign minister since 2005.

Ahmadinejad appointed the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Akbar Salehi, who has spearheaded the country's disputed nuclear program, as a temporary replacement, naming him as "caretaker of the Foreign Ministry."

There was no explanation given, although Ahmadinejad did write a letter thanking Mottaki for his service:

"I thank you and appreciate the work and the services you have rendered during your tenure in the Foreign Ministry," the statement said. "I hope your efforts receive praise by God and you will be successful in the rest of your life at the service of people of our Islamic nation."

As we look into the story behind the story, several things emerge.

Ahmadinejad and Mottaki have had strained personal relations for quite some time, and that's no secret in Iran.

As with everything else, the real power lies not with Ahmadinejad but with Iran's Supreme Leader of the villyat e fiqh ( Islamic State) , Ayatollah Khamenei and Ahmadinejad is merely speaking as Khamenei's mouth.

Khamenei has simply made a choice, and that choice is to back Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and strengthen Ahmadinejad's position and control.Khamenei is also likely to allow Ahmadinejad to come up with his own horses in the cabinet in order to prepare for increased confrontation with the West, so this can very much be seen as an endorsement of the hardline Iranian position.

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