TEHRAN (AFP) -- More than 20 reformist MPs on Sunday protested to President Mahmud Ahmadinejad over the replacement of Ali Larijani as top nuclear negotiator, saying he should have acted with more thought.

""In circumstances when the nation is facing most sensitive times, a change of the top nuclear negotiator is not in line with the national interests and the good of the system,"" said a letter signed by 23 MPs.
""It was necessary for the president to act with more tolerance and thought,"" said the statement addressed to Ahmadinejad, quoted by the Fars news agency.
Fars said that the letter had been signed by 22 MPs from parliament's reformist minority and also by one conservative.
One hundred and sixty-seven MPs from across the conservative-dominated parliament last week signed a letter hailing Larijani's ""valuable efforts"" on the nuclear issue even if they stopped short of outright criticism of his departure.
However Larijani still attended talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Rome alongside his successor Saeed Jalili.