Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday urged Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, the country’s hardline president, to remove his newly appointed first vice-president as tensions between the two leaders burst into the open.

“The appointment of Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei as vice-president is against your and your government’s interests and has caused differences and disillusionment among your supporters,” Mr Khamenei, who is supposed to have the last word in all state affairs, wrote in a letter cited on state television. “It is necessary that the appointment is annulled and is considered null and void.”