Victim of the nuclear program

Iranians called on Khamenei for negotiations with the West

Although the Russian authorities do not officially comment on the recent resignation of the Secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani, however, according to Vremya Novostey, Russian diplomats perceived it as an alarming sign. And here Russian assessments coincide with similar impressions of Western and Arab countries neighboring Iran.

Larijani, who resigned, had a reputation as a flexible and sane interlocutor with whom it was possible to negotiate. And this despite the fact that when he was appointed in 2005, immediately after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory in the presidential election, the former head of the Iranian Broadcasting Corporation, Ali Larijani, was known as a supporter of a hard line in the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program. Later, Russian negotiators often complained in private conversations that the compromises reached with Larijani were broken by the stubborn positions of his superiors in Tehran, primarily President Ahmadinejad.

49-year-old Ali Larijani submitted the application of his own free will, and it was officially reported that he had done this several times before. This time his request was granted. This followed almost immediately after the visit of Vladimir Putin to Tehran on October 16 . It was Ali Larijani who told reporters that the Russian president did not arrive in Iran empty-handed, but conveyed new proposals to the spiritual leader of the country, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to overcome the crisis related to the Iranian nuclear program. The essence of the proposals remains a mystery. Ali Larijani only said: “We are studying this idea.” However, now many foreign media outlets are suggesting that Tehran’s likely refusal to accept these new proposals was the last straw that broke Mr. Larijani’s patience, and the dispute on this topic finally quarreled him with Ahmadinejad.

The Iranians still interpret the visit of the Russian leader , according to their Vice President Pervez Davoudi, as “a victory for Iranian nuclear diplomacy.” This did not stop US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the other day from expressing confidence that Moscow “could not” convey to Tehran proposals that “run counter” to the position of the international community. According to Ms. Rice, between Russia and the United States on Iran there are not significant, but only “tactical differences regarding when to adopt another Security Council resolution and how tough these resolutions should be.”

This refers to the UN Security Council resolutions on sanctions against Iran. Two such resolutions have already been adopted: in December 2006 , No. 1737, and in March of this year , No. 1747 . Now some countries are in favor of tightening anti-Iranian sanctions. This approach is advocated, in particular, by Israel, whose Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow last week immediately after his Iranian visit.

At tomorrow's negotiations with the European Union in Rome, Tehran will be represented for the first time by the new secretary of the Supreme National Security Council. This is 42-year-old Said Dzhalili. He is an ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and is considered close to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei himself. Prior to his appointment in 2005 as Deputy Foreign Minister, overseeing relations with countries in Europe and North America, Mr. Saeed Jalili served as Chief of Staff to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. International diplomats who dealt with him characterize Said Jalili as an inflexible person, committed to “monologue, not dialogue.”

Nevertheless, the Iranians are cautious and are trying to sweeten the bad taste that foreign negotiators have from the resignation of Ali Larijani. As the press secretary of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, said yesterday, tomorrow Mr. Larijani will still take part in negotiations on Iran's nuclear program. Together with his successor Said Jalili, he will go to Rome, where his meeting with the main European negotiator on this issue, the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security Javier Solana, was previously planned.

Elena SUPONINA, Petr ISKENDEROV