Iranian leader likely to get visa, says Bush

CRAWFORD, Texas - United States President George W Bush says Iran's new leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, would probably be granted a US visa to attend a UN meeting in New York.

However, Washington is still probing allegations he may have been involved in the 1979 US hostage crisis in Tehran.

"We have an agreement with the United Nations to allow people to come to meet and I suspect he will be there to meet at the United Nations," Bush told reporters at his Texas ranch after meeting with his foreign policy and defence teams.

Bush said the US was still looking into Ahmadinejad's alleged role in the hostage crisis that consumed US President Jimmy Carter -- and the nation -- for 444 days.

The US says Ahmadinejad was a leader in the student movement behind the embassy takeover and is trying to determine whether he was a hostage-taker, which he and those who took part deny.

"Let me start off by saying that we're still investigating allegations and/or this guy's potential involvement in the hostage crisis," Bush said.

The State Department had suggested it might deny Ahmadinejad a visa to attend a the UN General Assembly meeting of heads of state in New York next month, despite the long-standing agreement to let officials of member states visit headquarters.

UN chief spokesman Stephane Dujarric said US authorities were obliged to give the Iranian a travel visa under the UN-US agreement.

Bush administration officials said no head of state had ever been denied a visa to attend such a meeting. Cuban President Fidel Castro has been to the UN headquarters despite longtime hostile relations with Washington.

The US did block late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from going to New York more than a decade ago but he was not representing a sovereign state and so was not covered by the UN agreement.

Bush's comments about Ahmadinejad's visa came as Washington also expressed a willingness to give negotiations over Iran's suspected nuclear weapons programme more time before getting tougher with Tehran.

Iran has angered the Europeans and the US by resuming uranium conversion at a nuclear facility. By doing so, Tehran defied EU warnings it could now be referred to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

- REUTERS