Iran Focus: London, Apr. 18 Mohammad Mahdi Akhoundzadeh will be appointed as Irans ambassador to Germany, the state-run news agency Mehr reported.
Iran Focus
London, Apr. 18 Mohammad Mahdi Akhoundzadeh will be appointed as Irans ambassador to Germany, the state-run news agency Mehr reported.
Akhoundzadeh was Irans envoy to the United Nations office in Vienna, Austria.
Irans ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency Ali-Asghar Soltanieh would instead take over Akhoundzadehs former post in Vienna alongside his current post.
Separately, the state-owned daily Iran reported on Monday that Iran was planning to sack some 60 of its ambassadors during the year.
Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Mostafavi was quoted as saying that the changes were normal procedure.
Among the envoys being replaced are Iran ambassadors to Britain, France, and Germany.
Earlier this month, Iran Focus reported that a number of officials appointed by the government of hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for the posts of Irans ambassadors to European countries had been rejected by the host countries.
As part of a purge of the Islamic Republics diplomats who did not belong to the ultra-Islamist faction, in October Ahmadinejad ordered the recalling of 40 of the countrys ambassadors and envoys, nearly half of the fleet. These included Iranian ambassadors in European countries, who were involved in Tehrans nuclear negotiations with the West.