Nuclear split emerges in Iran

Robert Tait in Tehran
Wednesday October 24, 2007
The Guardian

Signs of a split over nuclear policy at the heart of Iran's leadership emerged yesterday after MPs and an adviser to the country's most powerful political figure criticised the departure of its chief negotiator, Ali Larijani.

Ali Akbar Velayati, foreign policy adviser to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised Mr Larijani and said his resignation should not have happened. His comments coincided with a letter of support for Mr Larijani signed by 200 MPs in Iran's parliament. The parliament's foreign and national security committee wrote to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, complaining that Mr Larijani's departure "put the country in danger".

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Mr Larijani quit last Saturday after complaining that Mr Ahmadinejad had undermined his negotiating strategy. The resignation was seen as evidence that Mr Khamenei had handed greater control to the president, who has declared the nuclear case "closed" and replaced Mr Larijani with a close ally, Saeed Jalili.

However, that interpretation was cast in doubt by Mr Velayati's intervention.

Meanwhile a spokesman for the Armenian president, Robert Kocharyan, yesterday said Mr Ahmadinejad had been forced to cut short a trip there because of unspecified developments.