Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed three key Cabinet ministers.
State media reports say the president released the ministers of oil, mines and social welfare on Saturday.
The ISNA news agency says the dismissals are part of restructuring plan that calls for Ahmadinejad to trim the number of ministries from 21 to 17. There was no immediate word on who would take over the duties.
In a separate development, Iran has postponed the implementation of a court order that calls for a man who blinded a woman with acid to be punished in the same manner.
State media reports quote judiciary officials as saying Saturday's retribution penalty for Majid Movahedi had been put off indefinitely.
The victim of his attack has called for the "eye-for-an-eye" punishment. Majid confessed to throwing acid in the woman's face in 2004 after she turned down his marriage proposals.
On Friday, the Amnesty International rights group urged Iran not to carry out what the group called a "cruel" sentence.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
