In December, the UN Security Council unanimously imposed limited sanctions on Iran for refusing to freeze enrichment, which can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or, if taken to a higher degree, the material for atomic weapons.

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After Tehran failed to meet a late February deadline to suspend enrichment under the December resolution, senior representatives of Russia, China, the United States, Britain, France and Germany began discussing new sanctions that would include an embargo on arms exports and an asset freeze on more individuals and companies linked to Tehran's nuclear and missile programs.

The new sanctions, Ahmadinejad suggested, would only help enhance - not undermine - Iran's development of nuclear technologies.

Iran denies the charge by the United States and some of its European allies that it is using uranium enrichment to secretly build nuclear weapons, claiming its nuclear program is for generating electricity.

But the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, says that while there is no evidence to prove Iran's nuclear program has diverted toward weapons, Tehran has stepped up enrichment rather than halt it.

On Sunday, Iranian state television quoted government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham as saying Ahmadinejad wanted to put his case to the UN Security Council as it considers the sanctions resolution.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday the United States has approved a visa for Ahmadinejad before and will do so again, consistent with its obligations as host country for the United Nations.

McCormack pointed out that any UN member subject to a Security Council resolution has the right of rebuttal and expressed hope that Ahmadinejad will take advantage of an offer by the Security Council to open a negotiation on Iran's nuclear program.

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