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Iran challenges Bush to debate

The White House calls the Iranian president's invitation to debate world issues a "diversion."

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published August 30, 2006

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday challenged President Bush to a televised debate, a proposal the White House immediately dismissed as a "diversion."

The challenge came during a freewheeling, 2½-hour news conference and only two days before a U.N. Security Council ultimatum demanding Iran roll back its suspect nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials repeatedly have said the country's nuclear program is intended solely to generate electricity, while the United States and Europe contend Iran secretly aims to develop weapons.

In his challenge to Bush, Ahmadinejad said the debate should focus on "world issues and the ways of solving the problems of the international community."

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said it was "just a diversion from the legitimate concerns that the international community, not just the U.S., has about Iran's behavior, from support for terrorism to pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability."

During his news conference, Ahmadinejad said no one can prevent Iran from pursuing what he called a peaceful nuclear program - not even U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who was expected to visit Iran on Saturday.

"Mr. Annan, too, has to move within the framework of international regulations. No one has a special right or advantage," he said.

The U.N. Security Council has set Thursday as a deadline for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment - a process that can produce either fuel for a reactor or material for weapons. Iran has refused any immediate suspension, calling the deadline illegal, and instead this week offered a counterproposal that the United States and some European nations said fell short.

Ahmadinejad's latest show of defiance seemed to solidify the country's determination to snub the Security Council, following a string of war games and uncompromising public statements this month on the nuclear standoff. But whether the United States can muster enough support on the 15-nation council to impose economic or political sanctions remains in question.

The Bush administration this week reaffirmed its intent to pursue U.N. sanctions against Iran if it defies the approaching deadline. But Russia, whose support for sanctions is essential, has publicly counseled patience with Iran - a possible signal of reluctance to go along with the United States.

Emyr Jones-Parry, the British ambassador to the United Nations, said the Security Council will need until mid September before acting on its threat to punish Iran if Tehran's leaders flout the Thursday deadline. He said the council would first need to receive a report from the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, on Iran's compliance with the resolution.

Despite intense disagreement over the suspected nuclear weapons programs, the Bush administration decided Tuesday to allow former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to visit the United States.

Khatami plans to attend a U.N. conference Sept. 5 and 6 in New York to promote dialogue, then speak at the Washington National Cathedral on Sept. 7 on the role of Islam, Christianity and Judaism in shaping peace.

He would be the most senior Iranian official to visit Washington since Islamic fundamentalists seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979 and held Americans there hostage for 444 days.

[Last modified August 30, 2006, 00:27:31]