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TEHERAN, Iran — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faced outrage at home Tuesday over the ambush-style dismissal of his longtime foreign minister, more evidence of a growing rift in Iran's conservative leadership just as Teheran reopens talks with world powers on its disputed nuclear program.

Iran's leaders tried to quiet the rumblings by insisting there was no fundamental policy shifts behind the surprise decision Monday to dump Manouchehr Mottaki while he was in the middle of a diplomatic mission to Senegal and appoint nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi interim foreign minister.