Head of Iran’s atomic energy body resigns: ISNA

Reuters: The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, has resigned and his resignation has been accepted by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the ISNA news agency reported on Thursday.

TEHRAN (Reuters) – The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, has resigned and his resignation has been accepted by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the ISNA news agency reported on Thursday.

ISNA said it had spoken to Aghazadeh, who is also a vice president, but gave no details on the reason for him stepping down from both posts.

The Atomic Energy Organization is the body in charge of a nuclear program which Tehran says is for peaceful power purposes but which the West fears is aimed at making bombs.

The ISNA report did not say whether his resignation was linked to last month's election, in which Ahmadinejad won a new four-year term. The hardline president earlier this month signaled he would make changes in his government.

Officials were not immediately available for comment.

" … he (Aghazadeh) confirmed reports of his resignation as the head of the Atomic Energy Organization and as a vice president," the news agency said.

In April, Aghazadeh spoke at Iran's National Nuclear Day, saying the country had further expanded sensitive nuclear enrichment activity.

(Reporting by Zahra Hosseinian; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)