Iran's nuclear standoff with the West seemed set to hit new levels on Saturday after its chief negotiator resigned in a move that strengthened the hand of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the countrys radical President.
Ali Larijani quit as secretary of the supreme national security council after repeated clashes with Ahmadinejad over tactics.
His resignation came as a revolutionary guard commander said it will fire back thousands of rockets on “enemy” bases if attacked. Iran has repeatedly refused to suspend its uranium enrichment programme — suspected by the US and its allies as a front for building an atomic bomb — in defiance of the UN Security Council resolutions. Larijani’s resignation was announced by Ahmadinejad's spokesman, Gholamhossein Elham, who said Larijani had offered to resign several times in recent months.
Insiders depicted the development as a victory for Ahmadinejad in a power struggle between his radical supporters and more traditional conservatives for control of the nuclear issue.
