Financial Times FT.com

Iran's president gets 'order' to axe right-hand man

By Najmeh Bozrogmehr in Tehran

Published: July 25 2009 03:00 | Last updated: July 25 2009 03:00

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader, has urged Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad to remove his newly-appointed first vice-president, in an embarrassing "order" to the president, a senior Iranian cleric said yesterday.

Ahmad Khatami, Tehran's conservative Friday prayer leader , who supported the president's "landslide" re-election, said Mr Ahmadi-Nejad had no other choice but to "abide by the supreme leader's view immediately".

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