Iran reacts to Obama Nobel surprise

After a surprise decision to award US President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki says the designation was 'overly premature'.

“This decision was made in haste and the prize was awarded prematurely,” said Mottaki on Saturday. “However, we will support and welcome the move if it helps promote peace and harmony in war-wary countries,” he said.

Mottaki said the appropriate time for giving this award is when Palestinian rights are respected d and occupation forces fully withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a move that drew criticism as well as praise, the Norwegian Nobel Committee named Obama as the winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize earlier on Friday.

The committee said Obama won the award because of his efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and promote nuclear disarmament.

"Very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the committee said in a citation.

The decision to bestow one of the world's top accolades on a president less than nine months into his first term, who has yet to score a major foreign policy success, has received mixed reviews in the international community.

Some former Nobel Peace laureates, such as IAEA Chief Mohammed ElBaradei who received the prize in 2005, have congratulated Obama on his big win.

“I cannot think of anyone today more deserving of this honor,” he said. “In less than a year in office, he has transformed the way we look at ourselves and the world we live in and rekindled hope for a world at peace with itself,” said ElBaradei

Others, such as Lech Walesa, Poland's president (1990-1995) and the 1983 peace prize winner were not as welcoming when they heard the news.

“Who, Obama? So fast? Too fast - he hasn't had the time to do anything yet …For the time being Obama's just making proposals.” said Walesa.

US media outlets have also remained skeptical with some going as far as claiming that the Nobel committee “has embarrassed Obama, and diminished the credibility of the prize itself”.