Iranian Ex-President Granted U.S. Visa

Mohammad Khatami at his last press conference as president in July 2005 (epa) August 30, 2006 -- U.S. officials have issued a visa to former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to give a speech in Washington next month.

U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey announced on August 29 that "the visa for former President Khatami has been issued."

Khatami, a reformist cleric who was Iran's president from 1997 to 2005, is the most senior Iranian to visit the United States since Washington broke off diplomatic relations following the Islamic revolution and takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.

(AFP)

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