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At some stage, Ayatollah Khamenei probably gave his green light for Foreign Minister Mottaki's replacement, but President Ahmadinejad's disposal of Mottaki was most probably a surprise move, even for the Supreme Leader.
To show off his powers and humiliate his closest rivals, such as Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani and Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, the President decided to do what none of his precedessors had dared or managed to do: fire one of the Islamic Republic's long-serving foreign ministers. Indeed, Ahmadinejad indulged in one of the more acute examples of his "bravado" behaviour, issuing a terse communique firing the Mottaki, just after the Foreign Minister had delivered a message from the President to his Senegalese counterpart.