Iranian President To Attend SCO Summit

Presidnet Ahmadinejad (file photo) (RFE/RL) June 8, 2006 -- Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad will travel to China next week for a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

The Chinese Foreign Ministry says Ahmadinejad will hold bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, to discuss the controversy over Iran's nuclear program.


The SCO groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.


Iran, along with Pakistan and Mongolia, has observer status. Tehran announced last month that it intends to join the organization.


(AFP)

Ahmadinejad's Letter To Bush

Ahmadinejad's Letter To Bush

(Fars)

PRESIDENT TO PRESIDENT: On May 8, the Iranian government announced that President Mahmud Ahmadinejad had sent a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush. The letter was the first direct communication between leaders of the two countries since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. RFE/RL has posted the English version of Ahmadinejad's letter that was posted on the Iranian president's website.
"The people will scrutinize our presidencies," AHMADINEJAD wrote. "Did we manage to bring peace, security, and prosperity to our people or insecurity and unemployment? Did we intend to establish justice, or just support special-interest groups and -- by forcing many people to live in poverty and hardship -- make a few people rich and powerful, -- thus trading the approval of the people and the Almighty for [that of those few]? Did we bring the world peace and security or did we raise the specter of intimidation and threats?"...(more)


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CHRONOLOGY

An annotated timeline of Iran's nuclear program.