Ahmadinejad rival gets powerful post in Iran

TEHRAN, Iran-Iran's lawmakers overwhelmingly picked conservative Ali Larijani as parliament speaker Wednesday, sending another strong message of discontent with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's leadership by boosting one of his likely challengers in elections next year.Larijani, the country's former top nuclear negotiator, has said he wants a less confrontational approach to the West and brings wide international experience to the influential speaker's post.His selection was the latest sign of dissatisfaction with the president's handling of Iran's economy—flush with oil revenue but still stumbling—and worries about the diplomatic impasse over Iran's program to develop nuclear technology.The speaker's seat also carries a significant political profile.Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani served as speaker during much of the 1980s as Iran emerged from the 1979 Islamic Revolution and fought a devastating war with Iraq. Mehdi Karroubi, who had the post from sought to open new channels with Washington under reformist President Mohammad Khatami.Conservatives—who dominate parliament—were already deeply divided between supporters and opponents of Ahmadinejad. His conservative critics, including Larijani, have promised to tame Iran's inflation and tackle other economic problems.Larijani is considered a more moderate force than Ahmadinejad, though he belongs to the same hardline conservative camp.For now, both Ahmadinejad and Larijani are both enjoying the support of the country's ruling clerics. But a key question is who the theocracy will support if they face each other for the presidency next year.Larijani quit as Iran's top nuclear negotiator last year over differences with Ahmadinejad, saying he wanted a less confrontational approach with the West.But—just moments after being chosen parliament speaker—Larijani said Iran could impose new limits on its cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog.Larijani called a critical new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency "deplorable." The unusually strongly worded report issued Monday said Iran may be withholding information needed to establish whether it tried to make nuclear weapons."This parliament won't allow such deception," Larijani told an open session of parliament broadcast live on state-run radio.The council has imposed three sets of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to halt enriching uranium—a process that can be used to generate electricity or nuclear arms "Should this behavior continue, the parliament ... will set new limits on cooperation with the IAEA," Larijani said.His comments drew chants of "God is great" and "Death to America" from the chamber.Larijani didn't specify what measures the parliament would take, but it could include further scaling back cooperation by not responding to questions originating from Western intelligence agencies.The tone of the IAEA report suggesting Tehran continues to stonewall the U.N. nuclear monitor revealed a glimpse of the frustration felt by agency investigators stymied in their attempts to gain full answers to suspicious aspects of Iran's past nuclear activities.Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Iran has "a lot of explaining to do about the IAEA report.""The major question on my mind today is how the Iranians are going to answer the quite serious charges of non-cooperation," said Rice, speaking to reporters aboard her plane en route to an international conference on Iraq in Sweden.Iran has previously described its cooperation with the agency's probe as positive, suggesting it was providing information requested by agency officials.In the past, Iran had extensive voluntary cooperation with the IAEA beyond its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, including allowing IAEA inspectors to visit its military sites as a goodwill gesture to build trust.But Tehran ended all voluntary cooperation with the IAEA, including allowing snap inspections of its nuclear facilities, in February 2006 after being reported to the U.N. Security Council.Ever since, Iran has limited its cooperation to only its obligations under the nonproliferation treaty. The treaty does not require Iran to allow short-notice intrusive inspections of its facilities.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D90UTF7G0&show_article=1&catnum=2

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