IRAN: The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, sent a letter yesterday to George Bush - the first such communication for 27 years - offering an analysis of global issues and "new ways of getting out of the current delicate situation in the world".
The letter, which did not directly mention the nuclear dispute, came as the United Nations Security Council prepared to discuss a resolution this week that would open the way for sanctions and, theoretically, military action against Iran.
Members are considering an Anglo-French resolution, backed by the US, threatening Iran with punitive measures unless it abandons uranium enrichment. The West suspects the processing - which can be used for either civilian or military purposes - is aimed at making a bomb, but Tehran denies this.
Ali Larijani, Iran's leading nuclear negotiator, said the letter "could lead to a new diplomatic opening". The document was the first official communication from an Iranian president to his American counterpart since the 1979 Islamic revolution and the subsequent Tehran embassy siege, when 52 US diplomats were held hostage for 14 months. Iranian officials would not give details of the contents of Mr Ahmadinejad's letter, delivered through the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which handles US interests.
A government spokesman, Gholam Hossein Elham, said: "In this letter, he has given an analysis of the current world situation, of the root of existing problems and of new ways of getting out of the current delicate situation in the world." Mr Elham sought to dampen expectations that it might presage a historic breakthrough, saying: "For the time being, it's just a letter." But the communication suggests a significant U-turn by Mr Ahmadinejad. In a press conference two weeks ago, the outspoken president said he saw no point in much-heralded direct talks between US and Iranian officials over the future of Iraq.
However, Tehran has repeatedly asked for direct talks with the US on the nuclear issue, but the US, which severed ties over the hostage crisis in 1980, has so far refused.
Mr Bush says he would prefer to resolve the dispute through the diplomatic route. He has said he will not accept Iran having a nuclear weapon and has refused to take military options off the table - including the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
However, British prime minister Tony Blair ruled out two military options yesterday - either an invasion, or using a nuclear device. "I don't know anybody who has even talked or contemplated the prospect of a nuclear strike on Iran," he told journalists. "That would be absolutely absurd." He denied he had ended Jack Straw's tenure as the UK's foreign secretary in Friday's reshuffle because of differences over Iran.
Mr Straw's replacement, Margaret Beckett, flew to New York yesterday for talks with Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, and counterparts from China, France, Germany and Russia to discuss the Security Council resolution to be tabled later this week. - (Guardian service)