In a potential major political shift in Iran, a rival to Iran’s president was elected by a large majority as speaker of the parliament on Wednesday. The new speaker, Ali Larijani, Iran’s former chief nuclear negotiator, is viewed by the West as a moderating influence in Tehran.
The role of parliamentary speaker is a powerful position in Iranian politics, and analysts said Larijani could use it to challenge Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, against whom Larijani ran for president in 2005. Larijani won the speaker election 231-31.
The result appeared to be a commanding rebuke of Ahmadinejad, who has faced growing dissatisfaction in Iran about his steering of the economy. It also was a strong indication of his waning support among parts of the Iran’s senior leadership. Analysts said such a result in the election for speaker could not have been possible without the backing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader.
Larijani resigned as chief nuclear negotiator last October. He was among a small group of officials who, while supportive of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, had tried to press back against Ahmadinejad and his more radical approach, which had left Iran increasingly isolated.
After his election as speaker Wednesday, Larijani used a speech in parliament to strongly criticize a report published this week by the International Atomic Energy Agency that had raised concerns about what it called Iran’s research into the development of nuclear weapons.
He described the report as “deplorable” and said that in the future Iran might limit its cooperation with the UN nuclear agency, The Associated Press reported.
Larijani, a conservative politician and the former head of state-run television, had been appointed to the nuclear post by Khamenei.
His departure suggested that Khamenei had swung behind Ahmadinejad and his tougher approach on the nuclear issue, in which Iran has defied the UN Security Council’s demand to quit enriching uranium. Instead, Iran has accelerated the program.
Ahead of the vote for speaker, analysts in Iran had speculated that Larijani might use the election as a test of his popularity. If successful, he might resign and run for the presidency, they said. They said he was in a stronger position than he was three years ago because of his time as chief nuclear negotiator, for which he won a strong reputation inside Iran.
At the time of his resignation as nuclear negotiator, there was speculation by political Web sites in Iran that Ahmadinejad and Larijani had differences over tactics and how to pursue talks with Europe.