[NYTr] Iran's chief nuclear negotiator quits

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Channel 4 News - Snowmail (UK) - Oct 20, 2007
http://www.channel4.com


Iran's chief nuclear negotiator quits
=====================================
 
Ali Larijani has resigned as Iran's chief nuclear negotiator. Your
instant reaction is probably a yawning "so what?". But Larijani is
important. He's the man who was probably more able than anyone in Iran
to deliver an accommodation with the West over the nuclear issue and
Iraq. He was urbane, intelligent and far from fundamentalist - you may
remember him as the person who sorted out the release of the British
sailors captured in the waterway between Iraq and Iran. 

Die hard Channel 4 News viewers will remember his live appearances on
the programme complete with simultaneous translation. More importantly
he was a man the West could deal with - much more so than his boss, the
president. So it is a big loss, and one that could make the road to
conflict in the region a little swifter. Tonight we will have something
of an inside track on what happened between Larijani and President
Ahmedinejad to bring events to this point. 


more on the story:  Channel 4 News - Oct 20, 2007
http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/politics/international_politics/irans+chief+nuclear+negotiator+quits/941647 

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator quits

By Channel 4 News

Ali Larijani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator and the country's main
contact with the west, has resigned after months of tension over
Tehran's plans to build a nuclear reactor.

The UN has imposed sanctions on Iran because of fears that it is intent
on developing nuclear weapons. Channel 4 News has been told that Mr
Larijani's resignation followed a disagreement with President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad over a possible compromise recommended by Russia.

Ali Larijani has been key to the west's attempts to negotiate with Iran
and many will see his departure as a worrying sign.

The Iranian government cited personal reasons for his leaving and
insisted it had nothing to do with differences of opinion.

But Channel 4 News has learned the resignation came about as a result
of President Putin's meeting with Iran's President Ahmadinejad this
week.

Sources close to Mr Larijani have said he thought a compromise on
Iran's nuclear future suggested by the Russians was worth pursuing.

He abruptly resigned after President Ahmadinejad denied any such
proposals had been made.