Iran president appoints atomic negotiator, advisers
(Reuters)
Updated: 2005-08-16 09:43

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad formally appointed Ali Larijani, a conservative with close ties to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as chief nuclear negotiator on Monday, state media said, reported Reuters.

Larijani, former head of state radio and television, takes over from cleric Hassan Rohani at a tense time, with Iran's nuclear programme facing possible referral to the U.N. Security Council for punitive action.

"In a decree from President Ahmadinejad, Ali Larijani is appointed secretary of the Supreme National Security Council," state television said.

Ali Larijani, former head of state broadcasting, waves in this file photo taken May 14, 2005. Larijani, a conservative with close ties to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has formally taken over as Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, state television reported on Monday.[Reuters]

Iran has rejected a resolution from the International Atomic Energy Agency calling on it to reverse immediately its resumption of uranium conversion -- a process that can lead to the production of atomic reactor fuel or bomb grade material.

Washington accuses Tehran of planning to build nuclear weapons. Tehran insists its ambitions are limited to seeking fuel for nuclear power stations such as the one it is building with Russian help at the Gulf port of Bushehr.

European diplomats have expressed fears over the replacement of the pragmatic Rohani, who took up his post in 2003.

"You should ... pave the way for sound decision-making to guarantee .... Iran's national interests and rights and safeguard the Islamic revolution and defend the security and territorial integrity of the country," Ahmadinejad told Larijani in a letter, the official IRNA news agency said.

Larijani has voiced an uncompromising line on the Islamic Republic's atomic programme, saying that taking European Union incentives in return for giving up the nuclear fuel cycle would be like exchanging "a pearl for a candy bar".

Ahmadinejad, who named a 21-member cabinet of ministers dominated by hardliners on Sunday, also appointed three top advisers on Monday.

For his chief of staff, Ahmadinejad turned to Gholamhossein Elham, previously spokesman for the hardline Guardian Council watchdog -- an unelected panel with sweeping powers.

Iran's first non-cleric president for over two decades, Ahmadinejad named a mid-ranking cleric to advise him on "theological and clerical affairs", IRNA said.

Moslehi, whose first name was not given, is currently the Supreme Leader's representative in the hardline Basij paramilitary forces, political sources told Reuters.

The new president, who caused a stunning upset by defeating political heavyweight Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in June's presidential election, also named Mojtaba Samareh Hashemi as his "senior presidential adviser".

Samareh Hashemi previously held senior management positions in the foreign ministry and state broadcasting company IRIB.

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