Iran's former foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki has hit out at his sacking this week by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, branding the move both "un-Islamic and offensive." "Sacking a minister while (he is) on a mission is un-Islamic, undiplomatic, offensive and outside the practices of politics," Mottaki was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency on Sunday.
Ahmadinejad announced his decision to oust Mottaki on Monday while the 57-year-old career diplomat was on an official visit to Senegal.
"I was never told about the appointment of a new person within 24 hours of my departure for the mission," Mottaki said, referring to a meeting he had with the president on the eve of his departure, Mehr reported. The country's atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi officially took over on Saturday as the Islamic republic's interim foreign minister at a function which was also a farewell ceremony for Mottaki - who shunned the reception.
"What is more ridiculous is that (I was not told about) the date for the farewell ceremony and the introduction" of Salehi, Mottaki said. Responding to his remarks, a top aide to Ahmadinejad reiterated the government line that Mottaki had known in advance about his dismissal.
"Mr Mottaki was told about the change last Saturday, and he too expressed his readiness" to be replaced, senior adviser Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.
Parliament speaker Ali Larijani on Sunday criticised Ahmadinejad's move, saying it had led to "inappropriate" judgements of the situation inside Iran.
"If the intention was to replace the foreign minister, it was only right to do it tactfully and respectfully with regards to the minister, not when (he is) travelling, which fuels inappropriate interpretations of the country's situation," ISNA quoted Larijani as saying.
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