The
United States will grant a visa to Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad to make his case against further nuclear sanctions. The
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations last
week asked Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. secretary of state, to turn down
such a request ahead of meetings by the U.N. Security Council this week
to consider expanding sanctions against the Islamic Republic.
Ahmadinejad has routinely called for Israel’s destruction and denied
the Holocaust. Last Friday, Sean McCormack, Rice’s spokesman, said the
United States would allow Ahmadinejad to attend, as it he has in the
past.
The
Security Council is considering expanded sanctions because Iran has
failed to achieve the nuclear transparency mandated in December, when
the council first imposed limited sanctions on a few Iranian
individuals and corporations. The new resolution, submitted for
consideration last week by the council’s five veto-wielding nations,
would expand sanctions to Iran’s state-owned bank and would embargo
conventional weapons dealings with Iran. The full Security Council is
due to consider the new resolution this week or next.
