Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written a letter to the American people, which will be released in New York on Wednesday (local time), a state newspaper reported.

The newspaper gave no details of the letter, but it would appear to be an attempt by the Iranian president to reach out to Americans over the head of their government.

The state-run newspaper Iran reported the letter in bold type on its front page, saying "the five-page letter to the American people will be released by Iran's representative at the United Nations today."

Ahmadinejad wrote a rambling, 18-page letter to US President George W. Bush in May, which Washington criticized for not addressing Iran's nuclear programme where the US is leading the drive to impose UN sanctions on Teheran for its refusal to stop enriching uranium.

Iranians in the street were disappointed by the cold response to the May letter because, while it did not make clear proposals, it was the first official communication between the two countries' presidents since the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

Earlier this month, Ahmadinejad said he was planning to write a letter to Americans.

"Many American people asked me to talk to them in order to explain the views of the Iranian people," Ahmadinejad told reporters, referring to his visit to New York to attend the UN General Assembly session in September 2005.

Ahmadinejad has alienated many Americans by calling for Israel's destruction and repeatedly dismissing the Nazi Holocaust as a myth. He also strongly supports the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Lebanese faction Hezbollah, which the US State Department lists as terrorist organizations.

Twice this year, Iran has proposed talks with the United States over Iraq, but Ahmadinejad has said that for such negotiations to take place, Washington must change its behaviour. On Sunday, he said Iran was ready to help the United States get out of the "Iraqi quagmire if the US changes its bullying policy towards Iran."

Iran and the United States have had no diplomatic relations since 1979 when, after the revolution, militants seized the US Embassy in Teheran and kept 52 people hostage for 444 days.

Bush on Tuesday ruled out any talks with Iran until it suspends its uranium enrichment programme, and said Iran and Syria should not destabilize neighboring Iraq.

"Iran knows how to get to the table with us," Bush told reporters during a visit to Estonia. "And that is to do that which they said they would do, which is verifiably suspend their enrichment programmes."

(China Daily 11/30/2006 page7)