State Expediency Council to Take Over Nuclear Talks?

Hamed Irani, Rooz Online: Special Rooz Report

These days, the talk in the corridors of power of the Iran’s government revolves around the possibility of relegating the country’s sensitive nuclear talks to the State Expediency Council lead by former president Hashemi Rafsanjani.

READ MORE

It is also heard in these circles that the news of a possible change of guard has been welcomed by the European parties to these talks. In Iran, those supporting this change argue that not only has the new negotiating team not produced any positive results in the case, but has actually been the catalyst for the two consecutive resolutions against Iran, one at the International Atomic Energy Agency and the other at the UN Security Council. Furthermore, the idea of a new initiative that the new team had been advancing prior to the presidential elections of June 2005, did not amount to anything substantive, with no impact at the international level. The response to the repeated failures of the new negotiations team has been heating up to the point where Rafsanjani expressly advised the team, in a Friday congregational prayer sermon, to be more concerned about the interests of the country rather than engaging in rhetoric.

The unhappiness with the work of the negotiations team, and specifically its rigidity, has included Majlis (Parliament) representatives and other high ranking officials of the country, regardless of their political ideology. And as we get closer to November 24th when the IAEA’s board of governors is scheduled to meet again to go over Iran’s nuclear dossier, these concerns multiply in intensity. Those who disapprove of the policies, approaches, tactics and steps taken by the negotiations team have also voiced criticism over the repeated references by the president to “divine help”.