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Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani. (AP Archives) del.icio.us Digg It!  new Last update - 05:25 21/10/2007 Solana and Iran's new top nuclear official to meet next week By News Agencies European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana will hold talks with Iran's new nuclear negotiator Saeid Jalili next week in Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema confirmed Saturday. Iran's nuclear head Ali Larijani resigned Saturday and was replaced by Deputy Foreign Minister Jalili. Advertisement "My information is that despite the resignation of Ali Larijani ... he will come to Rome with his successor to attend the meeting," D'Alema said during a press conference in Beirut along with his French and Spanish counterparts. The meeting is expected to take place in Rome Tuesday. Solana had held three rounds of talks with Larijani, aiming to help solve dispute over Iran's nuclear programme. Solana last met with Larijani in June in Lisbon. An Iranian Government spokesman, Gholam Hossein Elham, did not give a specific reason for Larijani's resignation other than to say he wanted to focus on other political activities. "Larijani had resigned repeatedly. Finally, the president accepted his resignation," Elham told reporters. The United States and some of its allies accuse Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies the claim, saying its program is for peaceful purposes including generating electricity. Elham stressed that Iran's nuclear policy would not change because of Larijani's resignation. "Iran's nuclear policies are stabilized and unchangeable. Managerial change won't bring any changes in [those] policies," Elham said. Larijani was considered a trusted figure within Iran's hard-line ruling Islamic establishment who replaced Iran's former nuclear negotiator Hasan Rowhani, who was considered a moderate politician, after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected president in 2005. However, differences had recently emerged between Larijani and Ahmadinejad and his resignation is seen here as a victory for the hardline president on nuclear policy, giving Ahmadinejad a free hand in dictating his views on Jalili, a little-known diplomat. Larijani's absence during Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, last week further raised eyebrows in Iran's political circles. Ahmadinejad had appointed Larijani, a former Revolutionary Guards Corps commander and a close ally of Khamenei, as the top negotiator in August 2005 to replace Rowhani. Ahmadinejad had accused Rowhani and his team of technocrats as weak and giving too many concessions to Europeans in nuclear talks. Before he was appointed, Larijani was the head of Iran's state-run radio and television network and was seen as one of the hard-liners' most effective weapon in curtailing former President Mohammad Khatami's reform program. At the time, Larijani used the official media as a weapon to suppress democratic reforms and prohibited broadcasting information that might have been harmful to hardline clerics. After Larijani was appointed to the negotiator post, Iran took a more defiant approach to its nuclear program. It resumed uranium enrichment activities leading to its referral to the UN Security Council by the International Atomic Energy Agency in 2006. Iran's refusal to halt enrichment subsequently prompted a resolution by the Security Council imposing sanctions on Iran in December 2006 and another resolution widening the sanctions in March. Larijani, in many cases, held a hardline view on the nuclear standoff between Iran and the West. In 2006, he rejected Western economic incentives in return for a suspension of Iran's nuclear activities, saying the "Security Council should not think that they can make us happy with candies." But Larijani was also considered to be a moderate figure than Ahmadinejad within Iran's hardline camp. He is seen to be more committed to a diplomatic solution over Iran's nuclear program while Ahmadinejad is not seen as favoring talks with the West over Tehran's nuclear activities. The differences between Larijani and Ahmadinejad were revealed earlier this year when Larijani was upset after the president contradicted him on whether Iran would attend a meeting in Egypt to discuss Iraq. Larijani traveled to Baghdad in May to discuss Iran's conditions to attend the meeting but was upset after a reporter at the Baghdad airport said Ahmadinejad had already confirmed that Iran would attend the meeting. The meeting in Sharm el-Sheik brought Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki together for a rare encounter. Iran says capable of firing 11,000 rockets in first minute of attack Iran is capable of firing 11,000 rockets into enemy bases within the first minute after any possible attack, state-run television quoted a top Revolutionary Guards Corps commander as saying Saturday. Gen. Mahmoud Chaharbaghi, the missile commander of the Guards, said Iran has identified all enemy positions and was prepared to respond in less than a minute to any possible attack. "Enemy bases and positions have been identified... The Guards ground force will fire 11,000 rockets into identified enemy positions within the first minute of any aggression against the Iranian territory, the television quoted Chaharbaghi as saying. Chaharbaghi did not specifically identify the bases or the enemy and did not refer to arch foes Israel or the United States by name. But the U.S. has 40,000 troops on various U.S. bases in other Persian Gulf countries and 20,000 in Mideast waters. Another 160,000 U.S. troops are in neighboring Iraq and about 25,000 are in another one of Iran's neighbors, Afghanistan. Iran has periodically raised alarms over the possibility of war, particularly when the West brings up talk of sanctions over Tehran's rejection of a UN Security Council demand that it halt uranium enrichment. Last month, a top Iranian air force general said Iran has drawn up contingency plans to bomb Israel should it attack Iran. He made the comments days after French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that the international community should prepare for the possibility of war in the event Iran obtains atomic weapons, although he later stressed the focus is still on diplomatic pressures. Last month, Iran showed off its military during a parade that included torpedoes, surveillance drones and what Iran called its new domestically manufactured warplanes. Iran also has upgraded its Shahab-3 missile to range of about 2,000 km, capable of reaching Israel and carrying a nuclear warhead. But last month, Adm. William Fallon, the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, said he believes Iran is not as strong as it portrays itself. Not militarily, economically or politically, he said. Related articles: Military Intelligence: Iran will cross nuclear threshold by 2009 For the first time, Iran directly confronts Israel on nuclear arms Livni to tell UN: Iran nuclear issue will not resolve itself Today on Haaretz.com Report: Israeli mole took pictures of Syrian nuclear facility Sarkozy to tell Olmert: Now is the time for peace with Palestinians Bookmark to del.icio.us Killer father Rabin killer's wife says will tell their son his father 'sacrificed himself for his people'. Tehran to Tel Aviv A Christian-Jewish group is promising dozens of Iranian Jews a better life in Israel.   1.   Israelis with children pack up and leave,or alternatively stop 12:34  |  lakshmi 20/10/07   2.   Larijani Found Religion 13:43  |  Bill Foonman 20/10/07   3.   #1 Lakshmuck`s Daily Drivel 13:48  |  Bill Foonman 20/10/07   4.   #1 Good Idea 14:57  |  Pedro 20/10/07   5.   Most unfortunate 15:09  |  Mark Lincoln 20/10/07   6.   Thanks, Ari 15:49  |  joebhed 20/10/07   7.   3Bill Foonman,your choice,have your head buried in the sand or 16:06  |  lakshmi 20/10/07   8.   4 Pedro,childish nonsense! 16:11  |  lakshmi 20/10/07   9.   bad idea 16:14  |  hermann 20/10/07   10.   He must have got sick of repeating the Mullah mantras 16:49  |  PETER S.M. 20/10/07   11.   LAKSHMI All your wisdom,why so many Moslem terrorists in India 16:53  |  PETER S.M. 20/10/07   12.   Good News ??? 17:31  |  Double Click 20/10/07   13.   #1 17:44  |  X` 20/10/07   14.   AIRY-FAIRY LARIJARY 17:51  |  Iskander 20/10/07   15.   Iran Attack 18:42  |  Gabriel 20/10/07   16.   Keep talking till nukes are deployed 19:02  |  Avi 20/10/07   17.   Russia will abonden Iran and Lakshmi`s hope ME domination 19:10  |  Avi 20/10/07   18.   Why we should be very concerned and ready to attack 19:21  |  Avi 20/10/07   19.   8Peter SM not as many as you might expect? Part of the reason is 19:47  |  lakshmi 20/10/07   20.   Pondering the possible relationship 21:33  |  Mark Lincoln 20/10/07   21.   Good point Mark 22:08  |  Avi 20/10/07   22.   Larijani must have defected to the West. 22:45  |  Genuine Tosefta 20/10/07   23.   Peter, avoiding NPT obligations? 23:08  |  joebhed 20/10/07   24.   Khamenei orders to Larijani`s resignation 23:21  |  iran 20/10/07   25.   Avi - how do you know they will work? 03:56  |  Mark Lincoln 21/10/07   26.   In 1939 Hitler was aware the Germans would not 04:01  |  Mark Lincoln 21/10/07   27.   Talk again? That`s nonsense, waste of time 04:47  |  cristo 22/10/07   28.   iran - are you sure? 18:08  |  joebhed 23/10/07

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