Ahmadinejad’s Manhattan Project Progresses

Posted by ZZ Bachman...

With the resignation (dismissal) of Ali Larijani as Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, more direct control over the rhetoric and negotiations will be placed in the hands of lunatic at large, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The following is a excerpt from the New York Times describing the political ramifications of the change in personnel. The successor to Larijani is Saeed Jalili who is seen as being less experienced and will require more direct guidance from the demented President.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday said Ali Larijani, who recently resigned as the country’s top nuclear negotiator, would attend talks on Tuesday in Rome alongside the country’s new top negotiator and the European Union’s foreign policy chief.Larijani, his successor Saeed Jalili, and the EU’s Javier Solana are meeting in an attempt to ease tensions between the West and Tehran over its controversial nuclear program.

”Based on the supreme leader’s and president’s suggestion, Mr. Larijani, alongside Mr. Jalili, will attend the negotiation with Solana on Tuesday,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters during his weekly news conference.

He emphasized that despite Larijani’s resignation, Iran’s ”nuclear policy, strategy and aims are unchangeable.”

On Saturday, the Iranian government said Larijani was being replaced by Jalili, a little-known diplomat. The move was seen as a victory for the hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that could push the country into an even more defiant position in its standoff with the West.

The U.S. and some of its allies accuse Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons — a claim Tehran denies. Oil-rich Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes including generating electricity. The U.N. Security Council has imposed two sets of sanctions over Iran’s refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.

Larijani was viewed as more moderate than Ahmadinejad and the two often clashed over how to negotiate with the world on the nuclear issue. Analysts speculated the intense rivalry between the president and Larijani, who answered directly to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was behind the resignation.

Though it was not clear whether Larijani left his post under pressure, his departure was interpreted by many here as giving Ahmadinejad a free hand in dictating his views to the less-experienced Jalili. — [Hat Tip: NYT]

And this from the Associated Press also confirms what sources suspect is the motivation:

(TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The Iranian government announced Saturday that its top nuclear negotiator had resigned, a move seen as a victory for hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that could bring about an even tougher stance in ongoing talks. Government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham, said Saeed Jalili, a little-known deputy foreign minister for European and American affairs, was to succeed Ali Larijani as lead negotiator effective immediately.

Larijani in many cases held a hardline view on the nuclear standoff between Iran and the West but was also considered to be a more moderate figure than Ahmadinejad within Iran’s hardline camp. He was seen as more committed to a diplomatic solution over Iran’s nuclear program while Ahmadinejad is seen as not favoring talks with the West.

Larijani’s resignation was interpreted by many here as giving Ahmadinejad a free hand in dictating his views to the less experienced Jalili. — [Hat Tip: AP]

And so just who is Saeed Jalili and what’s his temperament like? Jalili is the current head of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council and reports to Khomeni along site Ahmadinejad. He will now apparently also be assuming the chief negotiator role driving further the Iranian ambitions regarding their “peaceful” nuclear energy program and capability in the region. He has is much let moderate than his predecessor and many suspect he will be getting complete guidance from Ahmadinejad and the Mullahs…

Saeed JaliliBorn in 1965, Saeed Jalili, PhD is Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for European and American Affairs. In a December 18, 2006 interview with the Boston Globe, Jalili, who says “in America, nobody dares to drink water without the permission of Israel”, brought up the spectre of the 1953 coup. A separate Boston Globe article about Iranian citizens published the same day (12/25/06) referenced the exchange:

And any discussion of improving ties quickly gets caught up in events of the past. Iran and the United States can’t get beyond the litany of slights that each nation feels it suffered at the hands of the other.

In an interview in Tehran last week, Jalili, the deputy foreign minister, began a discussion of the current US-Iran stalemate by recalling 55 years of history, starting with the British-inspired intrigue in 1951 that led two years later to the US-backed coup against elected Iranian leader Mohammad Mossadegh as Iran was about to nationalize its oil industry.

From the Boston Globe interview with Saeed Jalili:

So what is necessary to break through this [stalemate between Iran and U.S.]?

Jalili: First, on the broader principles of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, they should respect our rights. And we are ready to have the confidence building to show that we are not diverting from the peaceful production any material. The IAEA said they didn’t find one document showing any diversion from our peaceful program. Some of the great powers know this and they have made clear that they didn’t want confidence building - they just want to deprive Iran of its inalienable rights.

And after 50 years, we do hope the US apologizes for the [1953] coup provoked by the US against Iran. They should not miss this time, they should not miss the opportunity.

This March 2006 excerpt quoting Saeed Jalili on the nuclear issue was reported by the IRNA and on Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs web site:

He brought to mind the move of then prime minister Mohammad Mossadeq of nationalizing Iran’s black gold (oil) in 1951, and said that at the time the US and Britain also opposed the initiative and the CIA overthrew the popular government of Mossadeq and acquired control of the country’s natural resource.

The US secretary of state in Bill Clinton’s administration, Madeleine Albright, apologized for the role the US played in the overthrow of Mossadeq, he said in clear reference to US interference in Iran’s internal affairs dating many years back.

“There is no doubt (Iran) plays a significant role in international foreign policy as far as oil is concerned. But its impact on Afghanistan and Iraq and the whole region will be overshadowed by possible pressures and sanctions against Iran,” Jalili said in reply to a question on whether Iran would use oil as a weapon if sanctions were imposed.

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by ZZ Bachman...

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