October 20, 2007
BBC Reporter: The top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani has resigned. The government spokesman said Mahmoud Ahmedinejad had replaced him with a deputy from the Iranian Foreign Ministry Saeid Jalili. Mr Larijani is known to have big differences with the President over negotiations on the nuclear issue. The European Union said talks planned with Iran in Rome on Tuesday will still go ahead. Well Hossein Abedini is from the National Council of Resistance of Iran who is with us now and a very good evening to you. Why is this resignation important and what does it tell us about the state of the Iranian government?
Hossein Abedini: Well first of all there have been sharp differences, tactical differences between Ali Larijani and Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. Today’s development clearly shows the Iranian regime’s determination to carry on with its pursuit of its nuclear weapons and also confrontation with the international community. Ali Larijani according to our confirmation and a very strong indication within Tehran was dismissed by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his dismissal was preceded by the dismissal and removal of the Commander in Chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC, Yahyar Rahim Safavi a few months ago and a number of Ahmedinejad’s cabinet ministers and this really shows heightening crisis within this regime and we are certainly going to see further dismissals and further resignations in the near future. Mrs Maryam Rajavi the President-elect of the Iranian resistance after the coming to power of Mahmoud Ahmedinejad said that the regime has declared war against Iranian people and the international community by appointing a Revolutionary Guard Commander who has had a very bleak record.
BBC Reporter: So this is about getting rid of any voices that are dissenting from the hard-line in your opinion?
Hossein Abedini: In our opinion this really shows a faultering regime which is facing a lot of crisis. Unfortunately the policy of rapprochement and the soft-line policy vis-ÃÂ -vis this regime has emboldened and encouraged the regime to carry on with its aggressive nuclear efforts. So Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with his phoney President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, they are aggressively after acquiring a nuclear bomb and they cannot even afford any pretences and flexibility and this is a policy which has brought us to this point at the moment.
BBC Reporter: So what does all of this mean for the meeting with the EU’s head of foreign policy Javier Solana that is due to take place on Tuesday and that is to be with Ali Larijani’s replacement Saeid Jalili.
Hossein Abedini: Well I think that today’s Ali Larijani’s dismissal shows that talks over just talks and further negotiations and those who advocate an appeasing policy vis-ÃÂ -vis this regime. They have to explain to the European people, to the British people and to the world community about the dire consequences of this counterproductive policy, which unfortunately has brought us to this point. We believe that the only way to deal with this regime is a policy of firmness and we believe a third democratic option, which was presented by the leader of the Iranian resistance, which is support for the democratic ambitions of millions of Iranians who want change and comprehensive sanctions is going to lead to this and the removal of the main Iranian resistance movement, PMOI, Iranian Mujahedeen from the blacklist of the British government and EU list is the only answer to this. Unfortunately there are some in the British government who tell us that while they know that the PMOI has been unjustly put in the terrorist list of the United Kingdom, they believe that if they remove the PMOI this will lead to a policy of regime change. We believe this is incredibly outrageous and absolutely a wrong policy.
BBC Reporter: You also refer to more comprehensive sanctions. What in more detail if you would, would you like to see the EU and the UN doing and why do you think that would make any difference?
Hossein Abedini: Well we believe that there have already been three resolutions by the Security Council of the United Nations and although there have been mild sanctions but these sanctions have been very effective, so when we say comprehensive sanctions we mean oil, technological as well as diplomatic and trade sanctions, but this has to be coupled with support for the Iranian democratic resistance movement.