As he earlier has made notable diplomatic achievements through his trips, many local analysts believe the diplomacy adopted by Parliament Speaker reveals the flops and drawbacks of governmental diplomacy.
According to Khabar Online correspondent, as Larijani's travel to Japan has influenced various aspects of the Islamic Republic's foreign policy, it has also prompted different responses within the country.
Discussions almost focus on preparing the ground for the nuclear cooperation of Iran and Japan. In a meeting with Satsuki Eda, the president of Japanese House of Councilors [the upper house of Parliament] in Tokyo on Wednesday, Larijani said that Iran will go after the Japanese method in its nuclear program. Japan uses the nuclear technology but does not have any atomic bomb.
Larijani, who was Iran's top nuclear negotiator from 2005 to 2007 also held talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on a variety of issues including Iran's nuclear development.
However, in the same vein Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told Iran's Parliament Speaker to "remove all doubts about the Islamic Republic nuclear case." Larijani in his turn said Iran will always back the idea of productive negotiations.
The issue of parliamentary diplomacy and purposeful visits to countries influential in the Middle East affairs specifically in relation with Iran's nuclear case has gained the attention of many critics of the Islamic Republic's administration. Many experts opine that Larijani took diplomacy to the Parliament with him and overtook the government's foreign policy system.
Earlier as the secretary of Iran's National Security Council and top nuclear negotiator, Larijani experienced successful international relations. Therefore it was obvious that with such a background, at the helm of the legislative branch, he would pay a particular attention to foreign policy realm.
Such presumption turned out to be true. Concurrent with the wave of criticisms from the sides of different faction targeted at the diplomacy of the ninth government headed by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Larijani took the charge of Iran's legislative branch and began to focus on foreign policy issues. In this trend, he attempted to explore, and made various consultations on selecting the members of national security and foreign policy commission of the Majlis.
At the moment, despite numerous diplomatic trips made by Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Manouchehr Mottaki, the more limited but well-planned visits of the Parliament Speaker can be much more positive and influential in terms of achieving the objectives of Iran's foreign policy.
The critics raise the issue of the Majlis and the Administration rivalry on steering Iran's foreign policy. But as the failings of the Foreign Ministry in taking positive measures and developing interactions both in regional and international terms have become increasingly visible, the Islamic Republic's parliamentary diplomacy reveals to be a helpful supplement for the governmental diplomacy.
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