Word: tehran
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...Taking Tehran to Task...
...report from the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency excoriated Iran for continuing to stonewall investigations into the country's nuclear program. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) accused Tehran of failing to disclose information about missile development, high-explosive testing and military involvement in the nuclear program--all of which could suggest a covert nuclear weapons program. The report provides ammunition for critics pressing Iran to stop uranium enrichment. Iran's parliament, meanwhile, elected as its speaker former nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani--who promptly denounced the report and said Iran may curtail its cooperation with the IAEA in the future...
...going to see Larijani as a very active and confident speaker," a Tehran analyst told TIME. His comeback has underscored the increasing fragility of Ahmadinejad's authority in the country; less than a year ago, the President had effectively forced Larijani out of his senior post as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and Iran's top nuclear negotiator...
...will ultimately prefer to remain as parliament speaker rather than risk losing to Ahmadinejad in the '09 race. "He may see that he has little chance of being elected President, and that it's better to exercise influence as the head of one of the branches of government," a Tehran analyst told TIME. More an intellectual than a politician - he wrote a doctoral thesis on German philosophy - Larijani finished near the bottom in the 2005 multi-candidate election that brought Ahmadinejad to power...
...Even then, his comeback proves there is deep discontent within conservative circles over Ahmadinejad's leadership, and raises the likelihood that the incumbent will be strongly challenged by another leading conservative presidential candidate. Among those contenders may be the popular mayor of Tehran, Mohammed-Baqer Qalibaf, who has criticized Ahmadinejad's belligerent foreign policy statements and mishandling of the Iranian economy. Ahmadinejad seems to recognize the shifting winds; he let it be known that he, too, preferred his bitter rival Larijani over Haddad-Adel in the speaker contest...