‘Iran leader orders sacking of Ahmadinejad VP pick’



‘Iran leader orders sacking of Ahmadinejad VP pick’ Tehran: Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday ordered the dismissal of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's pick for Vice President, close aide Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, state television reported.

"The appointment of Mr Rahim Mashaie as a deputy to the president is against your best interest and the government's interest, and it will cause division and frustration among your supporters," Khamenei was quoted as saying in a letter about the controversial appointment.

"It is necessary that the appointment be cancelled," he added, the channel said without giving a date for the correspondence.

Ahmadinejad's naming of Rahim Mashaie as his first deputy last week had sparked a chorus of opposition in Iran, even among the hardline incumbent's own hardline supporters.

They had been outraged by comments the vice president made about the Islamic republic's arch-foe Israel last year.

Bureau Report