Tehran, Iran ? Iran’s government announced Wednesday that 40 ambassadors and senior diplomats, including supporters of warmer ties with the West, will be fired, continuing a purge of reformers as the regime takes an increasingly tough stance at home and abroad.

The diplomatic changes are part of a government shake-up by ultraconservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that includes putting Islamic hard-liners in key posts at security agencies. Some Iranians worry the president will bring back strict social policies.

Ahmadinejad has steered the Persian state into a more confrontational stance in its dealings with other nations, particularly in facing suspicions about whether Iran’s nuclear program is illicitly trying to develop nuclear weapons.

The president also raised a storm of international criticism last week by calling for Israel to be “wiped off the map.”

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced the diplomatic shuffle to parliament. He said that “the missions of more than 40 ambassadors and heads of Iranian diplomatic missions abroad will expire by the end of the year,” which is March 20 under the Iranian calendar.

Since winning election to succeed reformist President Mohammad Khatami, Ahmadinejad has taken a harder line in negotiations with the European Union over Iran’s nuclear program.

Hard-liners have criticized Khatami’s government for agreeing to freeze much of Iran’s nuclear activities, and Ahmadinejad has already replaced the negotiating team with hard-liners.