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  • IRAN / FILE: Ali Larijani, who has fronted Tehran's efforts to defuse an atomic row with the West, resigns as chief nuclear negotiator

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IRAN / FILE: Ali Larijani, who has fronted Tehran's efforts to defuse an atomic row with the West, resigns as chief nuclear negotiator

Chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, Iran's main contact with the West over Tehran's atomic programme, has resigned, the government said on Saturday (October 20). "Mr. (Larijani) has resigned from his position. He may go with Mr. Jalili or Mr. Jalili may go alone. It's our policy that the talks that are important will be continued. He resigned because of some personal reasons but it will not lead to any change in the programme," said government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accepted his resignation and Saeed Jalili, deputy foreign minister for European and American affairs, was expected to replace Larijani, the official IRNA news agency said. Larijani had been set to meet EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Rome on Tuesday (October 23) for more discussions about Iran's nuclear ambitions. The West fears Tehran wants to build atomic bombs and has imposed two sets of sanctions through the United Nations. Tehran insists it wants only to produce electricity. European officials say Larijani has long had difficulty in getting the Iranian establishment to support his negotiating strategy. Some analysts have said Larijani had differences with Ahmadinejad over tactics although both oppose halting the nuclear programme in the face of increasing Western concern and threats of more sanctions. An official at Italy's Foreign Ministry said it would be up to Solana to decide whether the Rome meeting went ahead. Major powers have agreed to delay new sanctions until November to see if Iran's deal with U.N. inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to clear up suspicions about Iran's intentions yields results and to await a report by Solana. The final say in Iran in all matters of state, including nuclear policy, lies with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei under Iran's system of clerical rule.

ITN Source | October 20, 2007Watch more videos from ITN Source

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