Tehran: A number of Iranian MPs
threatened on Sunday to impeach Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi
for appointing a man close to the president's underfire chief
of staff as one of his deputies.
Salehi yesterday appointed Mohammad Sahrif
Malekzadeh as a deputy foreign minister in charge of
administrative and financial affairs.
Malekzadeh was a top official in the high council
of Iranian affairs abroad, run by President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad's chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, whom
ultra-conservatives accuse of aiming to undermine the Islamic
regime.
A number of influential deputies in the
conservative-dominated parliament reacted the next day by
calling for the impeachment of Salehi.
"We hope that Salehi will sack Malekzadeh as soon
as possible ... and rebuff the current of deviation's
pressure," said one of the MPs, Mohammad Dehqan, quoted by
Mehr news agency.
"If he does not, the majlis (parliament) will go
for impeachment."
Ultra-conservatives, the Shiite clergy and the
elite Revolutionary Guards have repeatedly called for
Mashaie's dismissal, accusing him of leading "a current of
deviation" and of exerting too much influence over the
president.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, June 19, 2011, 18:36