Larijani "resigns"

Iran's nuclear negotiator "resigned" suddenly. The official story out of Iran seems to be that Larijani and Ahmadinejad had some sort of difference on position, but I tend to lean more towards this.

Larijani had said on Wednesday that Putin made a special proposal to break the deadlock over the nuclear programme in talks with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during his visit to Iran on Tuesday.

But Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the semi-official Fars news agency: "There was no nuclear proposal."

Putin carried his (as yet undelineated) "special message" around Ahmadinejad directly to Ayatolah Khamenei, and it was Larijani who made this public. Ahmadinejad's people have vociferously denied any message.

Ahmadinejad may have not liked the revelation that he's not the one in control.

(And then there's that curious bit about the assassination plot against Putin.....)

We're just seeing the tip here.