Iranian vice President Mohammad Ali Abtahi, one of the Islamic state's most outspoken liberal clerics, said on Tuesday he had left his post because religious hard-liners were preventing him from carrying out his job.
"Yes, it's true I have been replaced," Abtahi told Reuters, confirming his third resignation letter in eight months had been accepted by his close ally President Mohammad Khatami.
Reformist cleric and former parliamentarian Madjid Ansari takes Abtahi's post as vice president for legal and parliamentary affairs. Iran's cabinet has six vice presidents. Abtahi was retained as an adviser to Khatami whose second and final term in office ends in mid-2005.
"Since the formation of the parliament until now I have submitted my resignation to the president three times," Abtahi wrote on his often-entertaining Web site (www.webnevesht.com) where he often posts pictures of senior officials snapped by a camera on his mobile telephone.
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