Ousted Iran FM: Ahmadinejad's Decision to Fire Me Was un-Islamic and Insulting

Former Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Sunday called President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's decision to fire him while on a mission abroad "un-Islamic and insulting."

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"Such an approach towards a minister on a mission was un-Islamic, contrary to political and diplomatic norms and quite insulting," he said in a statement carried by the Fars news agency.

In a surprise move, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fired Mottaki on Monday while he was on a mission in Senegal and replaced him with the country's atomic energy chief, Ali-Akbar Salehi.

Mottaki rejected remarks by Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi at Saturday's farewell ceremony - which he did not attend - saying that the president had informed him of his replacement before his visit to Senegal.

"I had a meeting with Ahmadinejad before the visit and the topic was not at all raised, neither the sudden replacement nor Saturday's ridiculous farewell ceremony," Mottaki said.

Salehi said relations with the Islamic world in general and Saudi Arabia in particular would be his top foreign policy priority.

His remarks fuelled rumors that Mottaki's sacking was related to the WikiLeaks disclosures, in particular the documents that claimed Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, two neighboring Muslim countries, had urged a U.S. military strike against Iran over its nuclear projects.