PRESIDENT Ahmadinejad of Iran made an unprecedented gesture to Washington yesterday when he wrote to President Bush proposing a way to resolve the escalating crisis over Iran’s nuclear programme.

After 27 years of official silence between America and the Islamic Republic, Tehran reopened tentative dialogue with a country forever branded the Great Satan by the late Ayatollah Khomeini.

Although the contents of the correspondence were not made public, American and British officials suspected that the gesture by Iran may have been a tactic to divide growing criticism abroad of its controversial uranium enrichment work.

The 18-page letter was delivered yesterday by Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian Foreign Minister, to Philippe Welti, the Swiss Ambassador in Tehran, who represents American interests in Iran.

It arrived hours before the Foreign Ministers of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — America, Britain, China, France and Russia — met in New York to discuss an Anglo-French resolution that could lead to sanctions.

“This could be a clever negotiating ploy,” said Mark Fitzpatrick, a nuclear proliferation expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “It is much harder for Washington to get consensus for a resolution (at the UN) if Washington is seen to have a negotiated way out of this crisis,” he said.

Condoleezza Rice, US Secretary of State, said there was nothing in the “broadly philosophical” letter that addressed the nuclear programme. She discussed the issue at a meeting with Margaret Beckett, the new Foreign Secretary, before the two women attended a dinner meeting on Iran with their French, German, Russian and Chinese counterparts.

John Negroponte, the National Intelligence Director, added that the Iranian letter may be “trying in some manner to influence the debate” before the Security Council.

Russia and China in particular are eager to resolve the stalemate with Iran without resorting to a Chapter VII resolution at the UN, which is binding under international law.

If Iran remained defiant and failed to comply, the next step would be economic sanctions.

Ali Larijani, the national security adviser for Iran, said that the letter did offer “new diplomatic openings in the region”. But he also admitted that Mr Ahmadinejad had not softened his position. Iran insists that it has the right to continue its uranium enrichment work, in spite of concerns that it could use the technology to produce highly enriched uranium, the fissile material needed for an atomic warhead.

The letter represents an important symbolic move by Mr Ahmadinejad, who since coming to office nine months ago has pursued a defiant and provocative foreign policy.

Unless he is offering to halt uranium enrichment, it seemed unlikely yesterday that his letter would have much impact in Washington.

America wants the Security Council to vote on the existing draft resolution against Iran, on the assumption that Russia and China would not use their veto power to block the move.

Even if the diplomatic effort stalls at the UN, American officials are already floating a plan to win support among Western nations for financial sanctions against Iran with or without a UN mandate.

US officials believe that if Washington can apply pressure on international banks it can effectively squeeze the Iranian regime’s economy. If that does not work, Mr Bush has stated repeatedly that the military option remains “on the table”.

BAD BLOOD

November 1979 Militants storm US Embassy in Tehran and hold 52 hostages for 444 days

November 1986 Details of the Iran-Contra scandal reveal that US illegally sold arms to Iran for the release of hostages in Lebanon

July 1988 US warship mistakenly shoots down Iranian airliner, killing 290

August 1996 President Clinton signs Act penalising companies that invest in Iranian oil and gas sectors

January 2002 President Bush calls Iran, Iraq and North Korea the “Axis of evil”

May 2003 US and Iran hold secret talks in Geneva after the invasion of Iraq

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