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Iran continuing purge of reformers
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-03 09:01 Iran's government announced
Wednesday that 40 ambassadors and senior diplomats, including supporters of
warmer ties with the West, will be fired, continuing a purge of reformers as the
regime takes an increasingly tough stance at home and abroad.
The diplomatic changes are part of a government shake-up by ultraconservative
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that includes putting Islamic hard-liners in key
posts at security agencies. Some Iranians worry the president will bring back
strict social policies.
Ahmadinejad has steered the Persian state into a more confrontational stance
in its dealings with other nations, particularly in facing suspicions about
whether Iran's nuclear program is illicitly trying to develop nuclear weapons, a
charge the regime denies.
The president also raised a storm of international criticism last week by
calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced the diplomatic shuffle to
parliament. He said that "the missions of more than 40 ambassadors and heads of
Iranian diplomatic missions abroad will expire by the end of the year," which is
March 20 under the Iranian calendar.
Since winning election in June to succeed reformist President Mohammad
Khatami, Ahmadinejad has taken a harder line in negotiations with the European
Union over Iran's nuclear program.
Hard-liners have criticized Khatami's government for agreeing to freeze much
of Iran's nuclear activities, and Ahmadinejad has already replaced the
negotiating team with hard-liners.
"He wants to remove any official or diplomat with liberal thinking or anybody
who backs better relations with the West," said political analyst Davoud
Hermidas Bavand.
Mottaki, whose announcement was reported by the state-run Islamic Republic
News Agency, did not specify which ambassadors were being removed.
IRNA, however, said they include Iran's ambassador to Britain, Mohammad
Hossein Adeli, a leading member of the pragmatic foreign policy wing that
supports improved contacts with Europe and other countries.
Officials at the Foreign Ministry also said the ambassadors to France,
Germany and Malaysia — all with links to moderates — would be fired. The
officials agreed to discuss the firings only on condition of anonymity, because
they are not authorized to speak to journalists.
Mottaki said Iran's envoy to the United Nations, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who is
known for his pragmatic approach, would keep his post. Zarif, however,
previously was removed from Iran's nuclear negotiating team.
Iran's top security decision-making body, the Supreme National Security
Council, which oversees the nuclear talks, also has been caught up in government
overhaul. Among the new members is Mohammad Jafari, a former commander of the
elite Revolutionary Guards.
Ahmadinejad also has appointed hard-liners to senior Interior Ministry posts
and replaced most of Iran's provincial governors during the past month.
Tensions with Europe and the United States are high after Ahmadinejad's
regime resumed the conversion of uranium into gas. That is the final step before
enrichment, which produces radioactive material that is usable both as reactor
fuel and for atomic bombs.
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