Iran’s leader writes to Bush, seeks solution to nuke crisis

TEHRAN – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written to US President George W Bush to “propose new ways” to resolve tensions between the two arch-enemies, Tehran announced yesterday.

The historic move brings an end to a 26-year-old break in official top-level contacts with Washington, and comes amid US calls for sanctions and even the threatened use of force over Iran’s disputed nuclear programme. “President Ahmadinejad has written a letter to George Bush, which is to be handed to the Swiss embassy,” government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters.It is the first time an Iranian president has been known to officially communicate with the American government since 1980.”In this letter, while analysing the world situation and finding the roots of the problems, he has proposed new ways for getting out of the existing vulnerable world situation,” the spokesman said.Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told the ISNA news agency that “once the American president has received the letter, its content will be made public”, while a source in Ahmadinejad’s office told AFP the letter would be handed to the Swiss embassy on Monday.The Swiss government assumed the representation of US interests in Iran in 1981, and has since been acting as a conduit for messages between the two arch-enemies.The United States and Iran are at loggerheads over Tehran’s nuclear programme which Washington suspects is a cover for ambitions to build atomic weapons.Bush has not ruled out taking military action against the Islamic republic over its nuclear work, and Washington also accuses Iran of supporting “terrorist” groups across the Middle East.News of the letter came ahead of a meeting in New York of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany in a bid to map out a common strategy to force Iran to halt sensitive nuclear fuel work.The meeting will coincide with continuing bargaining in Security Council on a Franco-British draft resolution that would legally require Iran to freeze all uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities.Tehran vowed Sunday it would refuse to comply with such a resolution, warning the diplomatic crisis was heading toward a “confrontation”.Washington has not had direct diplomatic relations with Iran since April 1980 following the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979 in which 52 Americans were held for 444 days.According to diplomatic sources, subsequent communications via the Swiss embassy in Tehran have invariably been between the Iranian foreign ministry and the US State Department – far below the presidential level.Diplomats from both sides have also held confidential meetings in the past, most recently following the defeat of Afghanistan’s Taliban in 2001 and prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.- Nampa-AFP”President Ahmadinejad has written a letter to George Bush, which is to be handed to the Swiss embassy,” government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters.It is the first time an Iranian president has been known to officially communicate with the American government since 1980.”In this letter, while analysing the world situation and finding the roots of the problems, he has proposed new ways for getting out of the existing vulnerable world situation,” the spokesman said.Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told the ISNA news agency that “once the American president has received the letter, its content will be made public”, while a source in Ahmadinejad’s office told AFP the letter would be handed to the Swiss embassy on Monday.The Swiss government assumed the representation of US interests in Iran in 1981, and has since been acting as a conduit for messages between the two arch-enemies.The United States and Iran are at loggerheads over Tehran’s nuclear programme which Washington suspects is a cover for ambitions to build atomic weapons.Bush has not ruled out taking military action against the Islamic republic over its nuclear work, and Washington also accuses Iran of supporting “terrorist” groups across the Middle East.News of the letter came ahead of a meeting in New York of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany in a bid to map out a common strategy to force Iran to halt sensitive nuclear fuel work.The meeting will coincide with continuing bargaining in Security Council on a Franco-British draft resolution that would legally require Iran to freeze all uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities.Tehran vowed Sunday it would refuse to comply with such a resolution, warning the diplomatic crisis was heading toward a “confrontation”.Washington has not had direct diplomatic relations with Iran since April 1980 following the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran in 1979 in which 52 Americans were held for 444 days.According to diplomatic sources, subsequent communications via the Swiss embassy in Tehran have invariably been between the Iranian foreign ministry and the US State Department – far below the presidential level.Diplomats from both sides have also held confidential meetings in the past, most recently following the defeat of Afghanistan’s Taliban in 2001 and prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.- Nampa-AFP