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TEHRAN - The career diplomat set to replace Ali Larijani as Iran's top nuclear negotiator is a rising star in the Islamic republic who is said to be a close confidante of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Saeed Jalili is deputy foreign minister in charge of European and Americas affairs and his anticipated appointment as secretary of the supreme national security council is a major promotion for the relatively youthful diplomat.
"The resignation of Mr Larijani has been accepted and Saeed Jalili will be replacing him," government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham was quoted as saying by several Iranian news agencies.
Jalali was born in 1965 in Iran's holy second city of Mashhad. He started his diplomatic career in 1989 and has worked in the office of the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He was appointed deputy foreign minister in September 2005, just after Ahmadinejad took office.
In a sign of his closeness to the president, Jalili was a constant presence next to Ahmadinejad during his visit to New York this year to address the United Nations General Assembly.
In an interview with the semi-official Fars news agency in March 2007, Jalili was asked if he was the "representative" of the president in the foreign ministry.
He did not confirm this but acknowledged their close ties.
"The president's direct representative in the foreign ministry is the foreign minister and they have close relations.
"Maybe because we share the same views and I have a longer acquaintance with the president people perceive it this way," he said.
Like Ahmadinejad, Jalili is a veteran of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq, when he was wounded in the leg and to this day walks with a limp.
He also attended the same university as Ahmadinejad -- the University of Science and Industry in Tehran.
"Jalili enjoys close relations with Ahmadinejad and is one of the experienced diplomats of the foreign ministry," said Raja News, a website close to the views of the president.
Political analyst Mohhamad Sadegh al-Hosseini said the appointment was made to increase Ahmadinejad's control over nuclear policy.
"It is a step towards consolidating the camp of Ahmadinejad and shutting the door to any kind of differences.
"It is a prelude to the line-up of the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections," on March 14, 2008 and in summer 2009.
Jalili has a PhD in political science and is fluent in English and Arabic.
- AFP /ls
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