The resignation of the foreign minister of Iran, Manouchehr Mottaki,
was quite unexpected. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced
the resignation at the moment when the minister was on a visit to
Senegal. According to the expert at "Vestnik Kavkaza", the director of
the Center for Public Policy Research, Vladimir Evseev, the dismissal
of Mottaki can be attributed to the fact that in the recent years the
Iranian diplomacy did not achieve the solution of problems faced by
the leadership of the Islamic republic.
Mottaki served as foreign minister for nearly seven years. He was
appointed to the post during the first term of Ahmadinejad in 2005.
The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi,
was appointed acting foreign minister. Currently, Salehi occupies the
office of the vice-president of the Islamic republic.
