Multiple Iran negotiators may complicate talks - EU

By Phil Stewart

ROME (Reuters) - The EU's top diplomat said on Wednesday Iran's new chief nuclear negotiator was upstaged by his predecessor at Rome talks, warning that "multiple players" from Iran could further complicate negotiations with the West.

Javier Solana met Iran's newly appointed chief negotiator Saeed Jalili for the first time on Tuesday. But the European Union foreign policy chief said that former chief negotiator Ali Larijani, also in Rome, appeared to be leading the Iranian team.

"We have to let some time pass to see how these latest waves in Iran's power structure settle," Solana said in an interview with Italian state broadcaster RAI's Italia News programme, which Reuters viewed ahead of its full release later this week.

"It will be very important because the negotiation is already a difficult negotiation. If you also must negotiate with various players at the same time, it will be more complicated still."

Jalili replaced Larijani after his resignation was announced in a move analysts said could present the West with a harder line in its dispute over Tehran's atomic ambitions.

Solana noted that Larijani was still on the Supreme National Security Council as a representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying: "In this capacity, he was in Rome talking to me."

"They were both at the meeting, Larijani and Jalili. Larijani led the meeting, he was the one that took on all of the weight of the meeting," he said. "So he will continue to play an important role, in my judgment, in Iran's power structure."

Larijani took the lead for the Iranian team again at a joint news conference on Wednesday with Jalili, Solana and Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, after further discussions.