Iran leader proposes 'solutions' to Bush
Tehran's first letter to U.S. in 27 years
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has written a letter to President George W. Bush with "new solutions" on how to resolve current international tensions, Iranian officials said Monday, but there was no hint that he was proposing a solution to differences over Iran's nuclear program.
"Ahmadinejad, in his letter, spoke of the current tense situation in the world and suggested ways of solving problems and of easing tensions," an Iranian government spokesman said.
The initial U.S. reaction was cool, with officials again insisting that Iran back away from its nuclear program.
Tehran says it has the right to processs uranium as fuel in nuclear reactors to generate electricity. The Bush administration, Britain, Germany and France are concerned the program is a cover for making nuclear-weapons.
Officials in Iran would not disclose the contents of the letter, which was being forwarded to Washington through the Swiss Embassy, which represents American interests in Iran. White House aides said it had not arrived by early afternoon.
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The letter is believed to be the first direct public communication sent by an Iranian president to an American president since ties between the nations were severed after the American Embassy in Tehran was seized in 1979.
The United States director of intelligence, John Negroponte, said Monday in a briefing in Washington that although he had not read the letter, he suspected it could be linked to discussion in the United Nations Security Council over Iran's nuclear program.
"Certainly one of the hypotheses you'd have to examine is whether and in what way the timing of the dispatch of that letter is connected with trying in some manner to influence the debate before the Security Council," Negroponte said.
The announcement that Ahmadinejad had sent a letter to Bush came as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was meeting in New York with foreign ministers from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia to chart a common position over Iran's failure to comply with the UN Security Council demand to suspend uranium enrichment.
Since last month, when Ahmadinejad announced that Iran had reached a milestone in its nuclear program with low-level uranium enrichment, the Iranian government has become more vocal about its right and determination to pursue the program for power purposes, putting it increasingly at odds with the United States and its allies who believe Iran is intent on developing nuclear weapons.
Gholamhossein Elham, the government spokesman, announced that the letter had been at a news briefing Monday which was carried by the Iranian press agency IRNA and also said that the Iranian president had sent letters to other leaders of "certain countries."
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that the text of Ahmadinejad's letter would be made public after the United States received it.
Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said Monday that he was not aware of any such letter. But he said that Iran needed to suspend of enrichment activities to open the door for a diplomatic resolution. "We are working with allies in the international community to achieve that result," he said in an interview on NBC.
Britain and France circulated a draft Security Council resolution last week demanding that Iran give up its nuclear program. The measure was drafted under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which makes compliance with resolutions mandatory and opens the way to penalties or military action against nations that defy them. But imposing penalties would require a second resolution.
China and Russia, permanent Security Council members with veto power, have declared opposition to a resolution under Chapter 7.
Iranian government officials struck a defiant tone Sunday in their response to the prospect of a UN resolution against Iran's nuclear activities, saying they would reject such a measure and threatening to halt cooperation with the UN nuclear monitoring group, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
In addition, Ahmadinejad said Sunday that international treaties became "invalid" as soon as they failed to secure the rights of nations. He said that if a nation's rights under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty were violated, "Then that nation would revise its decision and the treaty would become invalid," the Iranian news agency reported.
John O'Neil contributed reporting. from New York.
China expresses its concerns
China expressed concern Monday that a proposed UN resolution to curb Iran's nuclear program could lead to a new war and it urged Britain and France to eliminate any reference to possible future sanctions or military action against Tehran, The Associated Press reported from the United Nations in New York.
Ambassador Wang Guangya remained adamant in his opposition to putting the resolution under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which sets out actions to respond to threats to international peace and security ranging from breaking diplomatic relations to arms embargoes, economic sanctions and the use of force.
