WASHINGTON The US State Department says it will allow Iran’s President Ahmadinejad a visa to address the UN Security Council, which is due to vote on a new sanctions resolution against his country next week. It also urged Tehran to suspend its uranium enrichment programme.

On Thursday the five permanent UN Security Council members, Britain, China, France, Russia and the US, along with Germany — the so-called P5-plus-1 group — agreed on a package of sanctions against Iran for its repeated refusal to suspend its enrichment programme. The group fears that Iran plans to make nuclear weapons, although Iran insists that it intends only to fuel nuclear power stations.

Iran has criticised Britain’s plans to renew its Trident nuclear weapons as a “serious setback” to international disarmament efforts. (AFP)

Times Recommends

• Rebel militias dig in as Russia leaves Georgia
• Lebanon's drug barons reap a bumper harvest
• A chilly wind is blowing down Main Street