Ahmadinejad appoints new nuclear chief

TEHRAN, Iran 鈥?Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has appointed a new chief for the country's nuclear program, following the abrupt resignation of its veteran head, the official IRNA news agency reported Friday.

Ali Akbar Salehi, a U.S.-educated physicist who was Iran's former envoy to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, is replacing Gholam Reza Aghazadeh as the new vice president and the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, IRNA said.

The replacement is unlikely to bring any change in the nuclear policy or impact the standoff between Iran and the West over the country's nuclear program since head of the nuclear program is not directly involved in negotiations, and ultimately all decisions on policy lie with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

From his years as envoy to the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency, Salehi is well known to Western diplomats and to U.N. officials. His most high profile moment came in 2003 when 18 years of Iran's clandestine nuclear activities were exposed, putting Iran's nuclear issue at the top of the IAEA Board of Governors agenda..

(Agencies)