IRAN LEADER DUCKS EVENTS IN ARMENIA, RETURNS HOME

Reuters, UK
Oct 23 2007

YEREVAN (Reuters) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad failed to
show up for two scheduled events in a visit to Armenia and returned
home on Tuesday, but Tehran denied Armenian reports that he had cut
short his trip.

"The presidents agreed last night that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad needed
to cut short his visit," the chief spokesman for Armenian President
Robert Kocharyan told reporters.

"Ahmadenijad had urgent reasons to end his visit ahead of time,"
he added.

Iran’s official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad’s top adviser,
Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi, denying any change in plan. "The visit by
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian delegation to Armenia
is going ahead as scheduled," he said.

Following those remarks, state television reported Ahmadinejad’s
arrival in Tehran without further comment.

Ahmadinejad had been due to visit the memorial of victims of what
Tehran describes as the genocide of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire
in 1915 and address the national parliament.

He was also due to meet members of the Iranian community in Yerevan
and visit a mosque.

But Kocharyan’s office insisted the visit had been cut short.

"Ahmadinejad failed to appear today at either venue he was expected
to visit," a presidential spokeswoman said by telephone. "As far as
we know he has left."

Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency quoted Armenian government officials as
saying the reason for Ahmadinejad’s early departure were "unexpected
developments in Iran and urgent meetings he has to hold at home". Tass
did not elaborate.

Iran’s chief negotiator Ali Larijani resigned on Saturday just days
before crucial talks in Rome due on Tuesday with the European Union
foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Tehran’s nuclear program.

The West suspects Iran of working on its own atomic bomb and wants
it to halt the nuclear program. Tehran says its nuclear program is
peaceful and vows to go ahead with it.

Washington has been pressurizing European allies to support a new
set of U.N. sanctions against Iran.

Analysts say the departure of moderate Larijani reflects a rift over
tactics between him and Ahmadinejad.