Iran MPs back atomic chief as FM

Iran's Parliament on Sunday narrowly approved President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's choice of Ali Akbar Salehi as foreign minister after his predecessor was abruptly sacked during an official visit to Africa last year.

The lawmakers' verdict on Salehi is seen as a test of the hardline president's support in Parliament, after his disputed reelection in 2009, which caused a rift among the country's hardline rulers.

"Salehi secured the vote of confidence from the legislative body by getting 146 votes," Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said. Parliament has 294 seats, and 243 MPs were present for the vote on Sunday.

The vote in favor of Salehi will be a relief to Ahmadinejad, who has faced growing criticism from lawmakers who mainly accuse him of concentrating power in his own hands and riding roughshod over the views of lawmakers.

"Today we need a very transparent, active, powerful and influential foreign policy," the president told Parliament in an address.

He added, "Cooperation between the government and Parliament is very important, and, through this cooperation, we should disappoint our enemies."

Ahmadinejad wanted Salehi to be his foreign affairs chief upon becoming president in 2005, but factional pressures forced Ahmadinejad to accept Manouchehr Mottaki, whose relations with the president were never smooth.

Mottaki is seen as a close ally of Ahmadinejad's conservative rival, Larijani, who has publicly criticized the president's economic policies.

Salehi, appointed as head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization in 2009, was opposed by some lawmakers who said he had little political experience.

"There is nothing but sloganeering in Salehi's program. ... He has no expertise in foreign policy," moderate lawmaker Mostafa Kavakebian said.

With a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Salehi has played an important role in Iran's nuclear program, which the US and its allies fear is a cover to build atomic weapons - a charge that Iran denies.

Salehi faces the challenge of overcoming Iran's political isolation under the US, UN and EU sanctions, imposed over its disputed nuclear program.

"I believe Iran can intelligently organize its diplomatic relations with the world. ... We are ready to improve our relations based on mutual respect," Salehi told Parliament.

Reuters