US dismisses Iran letter

2006-05-09 08:53

Washington - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's letter to US President George W Bush does not change Washington's position on Tehran's nuclear programme, a White House official said on Monday.

"Nothing in the letter addresses the issues between Iran and the international community," said Frederick Jones, a spokesperson for the National Security Council.

Jones said the letter sent on Monday to Bush breaks no new ground on issues of concern to the administration, including Iran's disputed nuclear programme and what Washington views as a lamentable human rights record.

"The president was briefed on the letter en route to Florida," Jones said, adding that the White House will not make its contents public.

Diplomatic initiative from Iran

The letter was portrayed by Tehran officials as an important diplomatic initiative to break the weeks-long impasse on the nuclear issue and defuse tensions after a quarter century of official silence between the top levels of government in Washington and Tehran.

Speaking to reporters on Monday en route to Florida where the president has public appearances scheduled, Bush's outgoing press secretary Scott McClellan said Washington's position was essentially the same as before the letter arrived.

Regime change

"These are concerns that the regime has with the world, and the international community wants to see the regime change its behaviour and address those concerns," McClellan said.

"The international community is concerned about the regime having a nuclear weapon capability or nuclear weapons and that's why were working together to find a diplomatic solution," he said.

"This letter really doesn't appear to do anything to address such concerns," said McClellan said.

New ways to resolve dispute

Ahmadinejad's letter had been described as proposing "new ways" to resolve the dispute between Washington and Tehran, but Jones described the letter as presenting a "broad historical and philosophical exposition" of Iran's past statements defending the country's stance on the nuclear issue.

News of the letter came ahead of a meeting in New York of the foreign ministers of the UN Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany in a bid to map out a common strategy to force Iran to halt sensitive nuclear fuel work.

Security Council members are bargaining over a Franco-British draft resolution that would legally require Iran to freeze all uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities.

- AFP