Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad might not be welcome at a UN nuclear conference in New York next week if he tries to disrupt the talks, the U.S. secretary of state has said.
A nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) review conference is to begin in New York on May 3.
"If President Ahmadinejad wants to come and announce that Iran will abide by their non-proliferation requirements under the NPT, that would be very good news indeed, and we would welcome that," Hillary Clinton said on Thursday.
"But if he believes that by coming he can somehow divert attention from this very important global effort or cause confusion that might possibly throw into doubt what Iran has been up to — about which I don't think there is any room for doubt — then I don't believe he will have a particularly receptive audience," she added.
The U.S. State Department earlier said that Ahmadinejad was likely to get a U.S. visa he needed to attend the conference.
Western powers suspect that Iran's nuclear program is aimed at making weapons, while Tehran claims it is pursuing nuclear technology for its civilian energy needs.
U.S. president Barack Obama said in early April that the UN Security Council could impose a new set of sanctions on Iran as early as this spring.
WASHINGTON, April 30 (RIA Novosti)
