Official confirms major purge of Iran's top diplomats Mon. 31 Oct 2005
Iran Focus Tehran, Iran, Oct. 31 - A day after Iran Focus first broke the news that Iran had fired its ambassadors to Berlin, London, and Paris, a state-run news agency close to the office of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed the report. On Friday, Iran Focus reported that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had fired his country's ambassadors to Britain, France, and Germany, and ordered 18 envoys to be recalled to Tehran. The three ambassadors, who were all involved in Tehran's nuclear negotiations with the West, were Mohammad-Hossein Adeli, Saddeq Kharrazi, and Shamsoddin Khareqani, the Iranian envoys to London, Paris, and Berlin respectively. Quoting "an informed source" in the Iranian government, Fars news agency confirmed on Saturday that the three ambassadors were leaving their posts. It said Mohammad-Reza Alborzi, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations' European Headquarters in Geneva, was also leaving his post. In a move to minimise the importance of what amounts to a major purge of Iran's diplomatic service, the official denied that the ambassadors had been fired, insisting that they had all voluntarily resigned. But he did not explain why, in that case, there had been no previous announcement of the dismissals until Iran Focus broke the news on Friday. "Ahmadinejad has been angered by what he sees as the envoys' meek reaction to the global condemnation of his Wednesday speech against Israel and the West", a government official in Tehran, who requested anonymity, told Iran Focus. "He made the speech with the full blessing of the Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] and has his green light to stifle any dissenting voice within the government". The official said that while there was broad consensus within the clergy-dominated regime on the hard-line President's vow to "wipe Israel off the map", some Iranian diplomats voiced concern that the international backlash could be too costly for the Islamic Republic. The ambassadors who are being fired were appointed during the administration of ex-President Mohammad Khatami. In recent days, an array of top political and military figures in Iran lined up behind Ahmadinejad's fiery speech. The Commander in Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, the Speaker of Parliament, the Secretary General of the Supreme National Security Council and the powerful Minister of Intelligence and Security (Iran's secret police) were among those who fully endorsed the President's diatribe and made equally strong invectives against Israel. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Fair play? Video games influencing politics. Click and talk back! http://us.click.yahoo.com/VpgUKB/pzNLAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
