The abrupt firing of Foreign Minister Mottaki of Iran, ousted while traveling in Africa, probably doesn't mean much for the just-resumed US-Iran talks, which restarted last week in Geneva and which are slated to resume in late January in Turkey. Mottaki was fired by President Ahmadinejad in an internal power struggle between Ahmadinejad, Iran's parliament and various conservatives opposed to Ahmadinejad's foreign policy, it appears. But in the ongoing nuclear talks, where Iran is represented by Saeed Jalili, the chief of Iran's national security council, Mottaki wasn't a big player. And Ahmadinejad, who agreed to last October's deal to export most of Iran's enriched uranium for processing into fuel rods, is a relative dove on this issue, at least as far as many analysts believe. Between now and January, however, the United States is going to have to engage in some spirited, behind-thescenes talks with Iran to make the negotiations work.
