Larigani is playing to domestic audience and positioning himself as better steward of international diplomacy. He is trying to pull one over people’s eyes and Iranians no longer buying form three Larigani stooges. There will be no taker in the international community either. The 5+1 view him as a bad photocopy of AN. They do have experience with him at the negotiation table in the past and they found it to be a waste of time.

Re: 1020 GMT: Montazeri Criticizes “lllegal” Violence.

I am at a loss. Is there a “legal” Violence?

Re: 0940 GMT: Ali Akhbar Salehi and his rubbish

Deception and Bluff. What else one can expect from these morally bankrupt and intellectually challenged individuals who sadly are running the country. If there were no victims in this saga, their rubbish would be rich material for a comedy script.

Alright, accepted, but it is funny to see, how Westerners are always searching for a logical explanation for such political manoeuvres ;-)
Within the past 30 years this regime has acted according to the logic of “one step forward, two steps back”. Now that international community is threatening the IRI with harsh sanctions, Larijani recalls the one step forward. Very typical, you should never close the door completely…
Pardon me, but for them Westerners are a bunch of wimps and idiots, who should be treated accordingly. Wimps, because Westerners negotiate with their adversary (instead of beating and nicking him), and idiots, because they talk straightforward instead of talking in riddles.
Obviously not all of them are struck by this terrific overestimation, but the majority really believes in its superiority (cf. this revealing article from Vahid Vahdate-Hagh:
http://debatte.welt.de/kolumnen/73/iran+aktuell/173446/irans+go+eaststrategie).
In short, whatever Larijani says is largely irrelevant. He cannot overrule the Fuehrer’s command, but he tries to present himself as a reasonable politician.
Clumsily, as Kevina noticed accurately.

I speculated and wrote about this in an early thread dated 11/24/09, Re: 19:17 GMT (referencing entry at 1900 GMT; AN agreement with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula ) http://enduringamerica.com/2009/11/24/the-latest-from-iran-24-november-sifting-through-confusion/#comments

““If remarks are made about Hashemi’s family members, then they have to be made in the right forum.”
…
Larijani’s comments and defense of Rafsanjani came a day after Alireza Zakai, a pro-administration representative in the Imam Sadegh University of Tehran, accused Rafsanjani and his children of opposing Ahmadinejad and supportive of his critics.”

Given that alongside his recent accusations against Rafsanjani’s son, Zakani attacked Larijani for allegedly supporting Mousavi, Larijani’s defence of Rafsanjani could be partly explained as a way of hitting back at Zakani and perhaps other pro-Ahmadinejad MPs who have attacked him directly.

To be clear: I am only suggesting that Larijani might be putting himself forward — in no way am I endorsing his “candidacy”!

Your argument re internal bargaining on budget is persuasive, but I am still having problems interpreting Larijani’s manoeuvres on the nuclear issue.

And, replying also to Gunni, Larijani’s support for Rafsanjani also needs consideration and explanation.

Scott

http://www.roozonline.com/english/news/newsitem/article/2009/november/30//majlis-speaker-supports-hashemi.html

Its more than a move – whats going on ?

@ Larijani
His first reply to the international community was termed as offending and shameful by Iranian commentators abroad. Press TV cites only the half of this morning’s statements. According to Parleman News, he accuses the West of prohibiting peaceful use of nuclear energy: http://www.parlemannews.ir/?n=5776

Scott, I really do not understand, why you insist on presenting him as an alternative to AN? Even if he likes to do so, after 5 months it is much too late.
What you see is a domestic rear guard battle concerning the budget, by which L. tries to impose himself as the powerful top representative. He already lost the battle about the subsidies, and his statements are only part of an internal bargaining.

Meanwhile the infrastructure is further crumbling down. According to the speaker of parliament’s health committee (Fars News), Iranian hospitals are at the brink of bankruptcy due to unsettled payments from social security for 5 months: http://www.peykeiran.com/Content.aspx?ID=10060

http://www.iribnews.ir/Default.aspx?Page=MainContent&news_num=207208

As for Scott’s musings on Larijani setting himself up as an alternative to Ahmedinejad, I can’t believe that the SL is too pleased with him, especially since he continues to hang out with his brother-inlaw Esfandiar Rahim Meshaie (if you saw the two sitting next to each other during the roundtable last night)…….

Agreed — I’m looking to see what next moves are from within Tehran and from Ankara.

S.