Rotating chairman of the UN Security Council says he will confer with other council members on Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's request to attend one of its sessions to brief the council on his country's nuclear programs.

South Africa's U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said on Monday that he had not received an official request from the Iranian Presidential Office in this regard.

"If he did make the request, however, it would be very difficult to refuse such an opportunity,” Kumalo said.

The UNSC chief expressed his readiness to consult other council members on scheduling President Ahmadinejad's meeting.

"I would be surprised if they said they don't want to hear him," he told The Associated Press.

The announcement regarding the Iranian president's intention to fly to New York came as intense debates continued throughout Sunday among the five veto-wielding permanent members of the security council- Russia, China, Britain, the United States, and France - plus Germany on a new draft UN resolution against Iran for its nuclear program.

Iran's government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said on Sunday that Ahmadinejad was likely to attend a UN Security Council meeting to defend Tehran's right to pursue peaceful nuclear technology.


AMM/SM/DB