Ahmadinejad dismissed Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi and two other ministers on Saturday as part of a plan to merge several ministries to cut their number to 17 from 21.
“I am the caretaker of the Oil Ministry,” state television quoted Ahmadinejad as saying.
By law the president has three months after removing a minister to introduce a new candidate to parliament. During that period, he can act as caretaker himself or appoint someone to the post.
Iran holds the one-year rotating presidency of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting countries (OPEC) which will meet on June 8 in Vienna.
It has said it is content with oil prices around current levels, unlike some other members of the cartel who would prefer it to be cheaper to relieve any threat to longer term demand.
Iranian media quoted an energy official as saying on Monday it was not clear whether Ahmadinejad would attend OPEC meetings himself or send someone else.
When asked by Reuters who will attend the Organization’s future meetings, an official said: “It depends on Iran’s political atmosphere.”
“The fact is that whether the president attends the OPEC meetings himself or not, Iran remains the head and a senior official will attend the meeting,” he added.
The government shake-up had been expected after officials said earlier this month the oil and energy ministries and the labor and social welfare ministries would be merged.
The government said the merger will produce a more streamlined and efficient administration.
Parliament will have to approve the remit of any new ministry. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has discretion over the key ministries dealing with oil, foreign affairs, intelligence and the interior.
In the past weeks a dispute between parliament and government over the merging of the ministries without lawmakers’ green-light has intensified.
Some Iranian media have reported that in a meeting last week Khamenei resolved the dispute between Ahmadinejad and parliament speaker Ali Larijani. But some lawmakers still oppose the procedure of the merging.
“The dismissal of these ministers was not legal or necessary. No new ministry could be established before parliament approves its mandate,” lawmaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar was quoted as saying by Iranian newspapers.
Some critics of Ahmadinejad, including conservative lawmakers, accuse him of trying to tighten his grip on Iran’s petro-dollars.
Iran is under economic pressure from sanctions that have deterred some foreign companies from investing in its energy sector.
In a rare announcement last month former oil minister Mirkazemi said Iran’s oil sector will suffer without foreign investment. Ahmadinejad and his government have repeatedly dismissed the affect of sanction on the country’s economy.
Critics have also accused Ahmadinejad of squandering windfall oil revenues that Iran earned when crude prices soared in the first half of 2008.
Getting approval from parliament, where Larijani has publicly criticized Ahmadinejad’s domestic and economic policies, will not be easy for the president.
