Global Security Newswire

Iranian media on Saturday said the country's top atomic envoy is a new entrant in its presidential race, Reuters reported on Saturday.

Observers have described Saeed Jalili as a staunch supporter of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to Reuters. Iran's Guardian Council is due next week to identify which presidential contenders are cleared for participation in the June vote.

Jalili has led Iranian delegates to a series of multilateral meetings aimed at defusing a years-long standoff over the country's nuclear program. The United States and other Western powers fear the effort is geared toward development of a nuclear-weapon capability; Tehran has insisted its atomic activities are nonmilitary in nature.

The senior diplomat would receive backing from prominent political allies also in the running if he wins endorsement from the country's religious leadership, Iran's Press TV quoted one of the fellow candidates as saying on Sunday.

Principalist Coalition members "are loyal to our covenant even though we eventually have to choose one person out of the three of us," Ali Akbar Velayati, a presidential candidate and a top adviser to Khamenei, said in a Fars News Agency report. "We all believe there is no difference and division among us."

The coalition also includes legislator Gholam-Ali Hadad-Adel and Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Khamenei's leadership faces challenges in the candidacies of former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, an ally of current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Reuters reported on Monday..

Meanwhile, a new round of talks are scheduled for Wednesday between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency, The meeting would be the 10th held since early 2012 to establish ground rules for an IAEA probe into indications of possible nuclear weapon-relevant experiments conducted by the Persian Gulf regional power.

"We have the meeting with the expectation of progress of course," Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, said in an interview with Reuters. "We are serious in these talks."

Envoys and outside observers, though, expressed little optimism, according to Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

One Western envoy suggested "Iran is trying one more time to offer a minimal conversation right before [IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano] issues his next report ... in a calculated move by Iran to soften criticism."

Former U.S. State Department official Mark Fitzpatrick said “the IAEA is persistent in asking for a means of resolving the issues, but Iran is stubbornly insisting on tying its IAEA obligations to sanctions relief on the diplomatic track."