Iran's government has named Ali Akbar Salehi as the new head of the country's Atomic Energy Organisation a day after its previous head resigned after 12 years.

Mr Salehi was Iran's former representative to the UN International Atomic Energy Agency. Seen as a moderate, he is said to be in favour of holding negotiations with the West to resolve the conflict over its nuclear programme. It is still not clear why his predecessor, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, stepped down on Thursday. Some analysts blame his close connections with Iran's opposition, which has been protesting against last month's disputed elections results.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits a nuclear plant (Père Ubu / Flickr)