| He wasn't smart enough? |
The official IRNA news agency quoted Mohammad Jafar Mohammadzadeh, deputy communication director at Ahmadinejad's office, as saying that only Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie had been sacked. He denied reports carried by several Iranian news agencies that three other ministers too were dismissed by the hardline president.
Ahmadinejad sacked Ejeie just days before he was due to announce a new cabinet line-up in the midst of hardliner criticism over his vice presidential pick
According to earlier reports, Ahmadinejad also sacked Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad-Hossein Saffar-Harandi, Labor and Social Affairs Minister Mohammad Jahromi and Health Minister Kamran Baqeri Lankarani.
Ejeie was sacked "following a verbal quarrel between the intelligence minister and the president in Wednesday's cabinet meeting over the appointment of (Esfandiar Rahim) Mashaie," the Mehr news agency quoted an informed unnamed source as saying. Ahmadinejad named Mashaie Saturday as his advisor and head of his office after sacking his controversial deputy in the first major blow to forging a new government since his disputed re-election, the state news agency IRNA reported late Saturday.
Mashaie stepped down as first vice president earlier on Saturday after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told Ahmadinejad his appointment would cause "division and frustration."