MOSCOW, July 17 (RIA Novosti) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has named Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's former envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as the country's new nuclear chief, state media said on Friday.

The resignation of Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Gholam Reza Aghazadeh was announced on Thursday, almost three weeks after he had submitted a letter of resignation to Ahmadinejad.

The IRNA news agency gave no official reason for his resignation.

Western powers suspect Iran of trying to build a nuclear weapon, while Iran says it needs the program for peaceful power generation.

Experts believe that Iran has the capacity to build a nuclear bomb and conduct a nuclear test similar to North Korea's in the near future.

Tehran announced in late February that it had 6,000 operating centrifuges at its Natanz uranium enrichment facility and was planning to install a total of 50,000 over the next five years.