Islamic Republic of Iran

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GENEVA — The U.S. may hold rare face-to-face negotiations between American and Iranian diplomats at a meeting Thursday on Iran's nuclear program, a senior official said.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the talks, briefed reporters in Geneva. Such a move would reflect Washington's determination to get results at Thursday's meeting between Iran and six world powers.

In addition to the United States, the countries include members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany. The U.S. delegation is headed by William Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, and Iran's chief negotiator is Saeed Jalili.

Even as they prepare for new talks Thursday with Iran on its nuclear program, the U.S. and its allies are contemplating new and tighter sanctions on Tehran, in a clear signal of expectations that the negotiations may again end in failure.

The fact that the meeting is taking place at all offers some hope, reflecting both sides' desire to talk, despite a spike in tensions over last week's revelations by Iran that it had been secretly building a new uranium enrichment plant.

WASHINGTON — Iran's foreign minister is making a rare appearance in Washington after being granted a visa by the State Department to visit the Pakistani embassy, which represents Iranian interests with the U.S. government.

Iran and the U.S. have not had formal diplomatic relations since 1980. No senior Iranian official has visited the U.S. capital in years.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Wednesday the decision to allow the rare visit was made in the last 24 hours, just a day in advance of an important meeting in Geneva between Iran and six world powers seeking to restrict Iran's nuclear program.

Crowley described the Iranian government's request for the visa as a straightforward matter. He said the Iranian minister is not meeting with any U.S. officials during his visit.

— The U.N. Security Council has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. The key points in each:

_ RESOLUTION NO. 1737:

Imposed in December 2006, it banned trade with Iran in materials, equipment, goods and technology that could contribute to Iran's uranium enrichment program.

WASHINGTON — Ever since President Ronald Reagan proposed building a ballistic missile shield in 1983 to prevent a doomsday scenario, the idea has been dogged by an unanswered question: Will it work?

The prime target during the Reagan era was Russian missiles. A scaled-down defensive system recently proposed by the Obama administration would aim to shoot down warheads from Iran, which has heightened concerns by building a clandestine uranium enrichment plant and test firing missiles this week with a range of up to 1,200 miles.

But even as the U.S. prepares to meet on Thursday with Iranian officials in Geneva over the regime's nuclear ambitions, the administration's reliance on missile defense to guard against the unthinkable still amounts to a gamble.

Components of the latest system have shone in controlled test environments, but the new plan relies heavily on radars and ship-based interceptors that haven't endured real battle conditions.

"We're not building all these missile defense systems because we're worried about Iran firing a rocket with TNT on it," said Philip Coyle, the Pentagon's chief of weapons testing from 1994 to 2001. "We're worried about nuclear weapons, and nobody knows whether missile defenses can work with nuclear weapons going off."

BERKELEY, Calif. — Supporters of three American hikers detained in Iran are planning vigils around the country to draw attention to their plight.

The vigils Wednesday are being held two months after Joshua Fattal, Shane Bauer and Sarah Shourd were detained for illegal entry after straying over the border during a hike in northern Iraq. All three are graduates of the University of California, Berkeley.

Vigils are planned Wednesday evening in multiple locations including Philadelphia, Minnesota, Oregon and Berkeley.

Since the three were arrested, their families have had no contact with them.

On Tuesday, Iran told Swiss diplomats they could meet with the three Americans, something viewed as a conciliatory gesture.

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With the world's major economies having stepped back from the brink of a devastating meltdown, President Barack Obama comes to a global summit here pushing a slimmed-down agenda designed to prevent a repeat of the conditions that caused such panic a few months ago.

Obama will tell world leaders that the global economy cannot continually rely on huge borrowing and spending by Americans and massive exports by countries such as China.

In informal chats and fancy receptions at the two-day summit beginning Thursday, the buzz words will be "balanced and sustainable."

Obama gave a hint of the message when he spoke at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday. He said other nations cannot "stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone. Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

This is the third meeting of the Group of 20 top economies in the aftermath of the financial crisis that plunged the world into fear a year ago. When the G-20 met in April, the economies of the United States and many other countries were under severe strain, and world leaders largely agreed on common remedies such as dramatically increased government spending to provide some stimulus.

With U.S. President Barack Obama presiding, the U.N. Security Council is expected to give a big political boost to long-stalled efforts to move toward a world without nuclear weapons.

Diplomats said the U.N.'s most powerful body will vote unanimously Thursday on a draft resolution calling for stepped up efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote disarmament and "reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism."

Obama is the first U.S. president to chair a summit-level meeting of the council and he will be joined by 14 other world leaders, U.S. deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff said.

Obama aides see the resolution that will be adopted at the meeting as an endorsement of the president's entire nuclear agenda, as laid out in his April speech in Prague in which he declared his commitment to "a world without nuclear weapons."

The president called in that speech for the slashing of U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, adoption of the treaty banning all nuclear tests, an international fuel bank to better safeguard nuclear material, and negotiations on a new treaty that "verifiably" ends the production of fissile materials used to make atomic weapons.

With U.S. President Barack Obama presiding, the U.N. Security Council is expected to give a big political boost to long-stalled efforts to move toward a world without nuclear weapons.

Diplomats said the U.N.'s most powerful body will vote unanimously Thursday on a draft resolution calling for stepped up efforts to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, promote disarmament and "reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism."

Obama is the first U.S. president to chair a summit-level meeting of the council and he will be joined by 14 other world leaders, U.S. deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff said.

Obama aides see the resolution that will be adopted at the meeting as an endorsement of the president's entire nuclear agenda, as laid out in his April speech in Prague in which he declared his commitment to "a world without nuclear weapons."

The president called in that speech for the slashing of U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals, adoption of the treaty banning all nuclear tests, an international fuel bank to better safeguard nuclear material, and negotiations on a new treaty that "verifiably" ends the production of fissile materials used to make atomic weapons.

On a day when the U.N. and Western nations appealed for global unity, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi on Wednesday denounced what they called an unjust world dominated by five powers.

The Iranian leader, touting his victory in "glorious" June elections, which the opposition claimed were stolen, did not mention the country's nuclear program in his speech to the U.N. General Assembly. He addressed the annual gathering immediately after six global powers who have been trying to rein in Iran's nuclear ambitions announced they expect a "serious response" from Tehran in nuclear discussions on Oct. 1.

Ahmadinejad lashed out at what he said was the rapacious capitalism of the United States, its Western allies and Israel, which he accused of stealing Palestinian land. But he also offered a hand of friendship to any country that "honestly" extends one.

His comment followed an Associated Press interview Tuesday night in which he urged President Barack Obama to view Iran as a potential friend instead of a threat.

While Ahmadinejad announced a new Iranian commitment to help build "a durable peace and security worldwide for all nations," his speech was laced with anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic language which prompted a U.S. walkout. "It is disappointing that Mr. Ahmadinejad has once again chosen to espouse hateful, offensive and anti-Semitic rhetoric," said Mark Kornblau, spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the U.N.

Brazil's president says Iran is entitled to the same rights as Brazil or any other country in its use of nuclear energy for peaceful ends.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad assured him in a meeting that his country's nuclear program was intended solely for peaceful purposes and that he had no reason to doubt him.

Following his meeting with the Iranian president, Silva called Iran a "great partner" and defended Brazil's right to define its own foreign policy.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his country is ready to shake all hands "that are honestly extended to us."

Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, he announced Iran's commitment to participate in building durable peace and security worldwide for all nations while defending the country's legitimate and legal rights.

This appeared to be a reference to Iran's nuclear program, which was not mentioned in his speech.

Ahmadinejad portrayed Iran as a defender of poor developing countries, lashing out at unbridled capitalism which he said has reached the end of the road and will suffer the same fate as Marxism. The U.S. delegation walked out.