TEHRAN, 21 October 2007 — Iran yesterday announced top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani had resigned, a move expected to strengthen President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s influence over policy in the atomic standoff with the West.
Government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said Larijani, a conservative but by no means a political ally of Ahmadinejad, would be replaced by Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Jalili, who is seen as closer to the president.
Larijani’s resignation, whose official title as negotiator was secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, takes effect immediately.
However, he is to join his successor to participate in talks on Iran’s nuclear program with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Rome on Tuesday, Elham said.
He added that Larijani had already offered his resignation several times but only now had Ahmadinejad chosen to accept it. “Larijani had resigned several times and finally the president accepted his resignation,” state news agency IRNA quoted Elham as saying.
Rumors have been circulating in Iran for months that Larijani was at odds with Ahmadinejad and had offered to resign. But nothing had ever been confirmed by officials until now. Elham offered no explanation for the resignation except to say that Larijani had “personal reasons” for stepping down.
His replacement Jalili, a youthful deputy foreign minister born in 1965, is seen by analysts as a close ally of Ahmadinejad.
“The resignation of Larijani has been accepted and Saeed Jalili will be replacing him,” Elham was quoted as saying, adding that the process to finalize the appointment was under way.
Political analyst Mohammad Sadegh Al-Hosseini said that the appointment was made to increase Ahmadinejad’s control over nuclear policy ahead of parliamentary elections on March 14 and a presidential poll in summer 2009.
“It is a step toward consolidating the camp of Ahmadinejad and shutting the door to any kind of differences,” he said.
A top Iranian official, who asked not to be named, added that Larijani had political ambitions of his own.
“Larijani wants to play a more significant political role and perhaps become a member of Parliament.”
Larijani, who took on his post after Ahmadinejad’s election in 2005, has led two years of sensitive talks with EU officials over Iran’s nuclear program.
He replaced the moderate negotiating team which had served under reformist President Mohammad Khatami and reversed the suspension of uranium enrichment that had been agreed with EU powers.
Larijani maintained the government’s line it would never back down in the nuclear standoff and Elham insisted that there would be no change in strategy following his resignation.
But Larijani’s wordy and relatively moderate rhetoric always contrasted starkly with the populist president’s confrontational and sometimes provocative statements on the nuclear standoff.
