Iran names new envoy to IAEA, extending makeover of nuclear team.

Iran names new envoy to IAEA, extending makeover of nuclear team.(JPost).

DUBAI - Iran has named a disarmament expert as its envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog, extending a reshuffle of top officials dealing with its disputed atomic program since new President Hassan Rouhani took office vowing to improve Iran's foreign relations.

Rouhani has yet to pick someone for arguably Iran's most important diplomatic post - chief nuclear negotiator with world powers - but the pragmatist tilt of his team so far points to a closer alignment of nuclear and foreign policy.
Reza Najafi, who has worked on disarmament issues within Iran's foreign ministry, will be its next ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, ISNA news agency said on Tuesday.
Najafi replaces Ali Asghar Soltanieh, who has been leading so far fruitless negotiations with the IAEA since early 2012 and was the ambassador during the hardline conservative tenure of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The UN agency wants to resume a long-stalled investigation into suspicions that Iran has carried out research relevant for nuclear weapons development, an allegation Tehran denies. Western diplomats accuse Iran of stonewalling the IAEA inquiry.
Little is known about Najafi's politics. But the state run English language Press TV said that as the head of Iran's atomic energy organization in 2010, Salehi tried to replace Soltanieh with Najafi at the IAEA, describing Najafi as "an expert in non-proliferation issues" who "deserves the post". But Soltanieh's term was ultimately extended.
Mark Fitzpatrick, director of non-proliferation and disarmament at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said that when Najafi attended an IISS conference in 2010, he engaged with other participants during the breaks, listened well, asked good questions and defended Iran's interests but was not above correcting himself.
ISNA said Najafi was nominated by new Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, a US-educated former UN ambassador, for the IAEA post and Rouhani approved it.
For the pivotal post of chief nuclear negotiator, it is nearly certain that Rouhani will replace Saeed Jalili, a hardline ideologue of the Islamic Revolution who diplomats said spent more time lecturing than engaging with major powers.Hmmm.....A 'disarmament expert'...they'll go after Israel's  possession of Nukes.Read the full story here.