Iran arrests former nuclear negotiator

TEHRAN, May 2 (Reuters) Iranian authorities arrested a former nuclear negotiator on unknown charges, a judiciary official told the semi-official ILNA news agency today.

''Former nuclear negotiator Hossein Mousavian has been arrested,'' ILNA quoted an unnamed judiciary official as saying.

The reason for Mousavian's arrest and charges against him have not been announced yet, ILNA said.

Mousavian's office declined to comment over his arrest.

Mousavian, considered a moderate conservative by analysts, was a member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team with the European Union and head of the foreign policy committee on the Supreme National Security Council.

But like most other members of the team, he was replaced by more hardline officials when President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took office in 2005.

During the presidential race, Ahmadinejad said Iran's nuclear negotiators had been too timid, although after his election win Iran continued the talks with the European Union to find a diplomatic solution to its nuclear dispute.

Iran denies the West's accusations that it wants to use its nuclear programme to make bombs and says its atomic ambitions are limited to generating electricity.

The United Nations has imposed sanctions on Iran over its refusal to stop its sensitive uranium enrichment work.

REUTERS VD RK1625