Reports: Iranian president removes foreign minister

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has removed and replaced Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, state-run Iranian media reported Monday.

Ahmadinejad appointed Ali Akbar Salehi, current nuclear chief and secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, as the interim head of the Foreign Ministry, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

In a letter, the president thanked Mottaki for his service, according to Fars and the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

Neither report said why the move was made.

Mottaki has been one of the public faces in the international debate over Iran's nuclear program. Tehran maintains the program exists for peaceful purposes, but the United States and other Western nations have expressed concern that the program's goals are more nefarious.