Ahmadinejad in trouble over Larijani Resignation

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday cut short a planned two-day visit to Armenia, officials there said, as the hard-line leader faced growing unhappiness at home over the resignation of Iran's top nuclear negotiator.

The sudden replacement of negotiator Ali Larijani fueled already increasing complaints — even from conservatives who were once his supporters — that the fire-brand president was mismanaging Iran's most vital issues, particularly the confrontation with the West over the nuclear program.

Beyond the suddenness of Mr. Larijani's weekend departure, the choice for his replacement, Saeed Jalili, also came as a surprise. Mr. Jalili was a little-known deputy foreign minister, noted mainly for his loyalty to Mr. Ahmadinejad.

In a sign the displeasure may reach high levels in Iran's clerical establishment, a foreign policy adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, complained about the surprise change, which occurred just ahead of key talks yesterday with the European Union.
 
"It was definitely better if this did not happen in the [current] important and sensitive situation when the nuclear issue is on the table," the adviser, former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, was quoted as saying by the semiofficial news agency ISNA.

Mr. Jalili’s appointment may signal a clarification rather than a hardening of Iran’s policy.

Mr. Larijani pleaded with the Europeans for understanding and room to maneuver, and he avoided the fiery bombast of Mr. Ahmadinejad, according to several European officials who dealt with him.

By contrast, they said, Mr. Jalili, as the Foreign Ministry official responsible for European and American affairs, did not pretend to try to negotiate, but tended to lecture with a sweet demeanor that belied his steely messages.

“He doesn’t listen or pretend to listen,” said one European official who has dealt with him. “It’s not a dialogue of the deaf. It’s a monologue of the deaf.”