Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will arrive in New York early tomorrow to address the UN Security Council before a vote on whether to sanction his country for refusing to stop enriching uranium, a council diplomat said.
Ahmadinejad was to arrive at 1 a.m. Saturday at John F. Kennedy International Airport, the diplomat said.
The five veto-wielding members of the Security Council want a vote tomorrow on a resolution to pressure Iran to cease enrichment - a process that can make fuel for civilian reactors or fissile material for a nuclear warhead.
There was earlier confusion over whether Ahmadinejad would be able to leave Iran in time to address the Security Council.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had told Iranian state-run radio that the government of the United States had not issued a visa for Ahmadinejad.
Daniel Wendell, a spokesman for the US Embassy in Bern, Switzerland, said Ahmadinejad's and other Iranian officials' passports had been handed over in Bern today.
Another 31 other passports for support staff were to ready later in the day. The passports would then be taken by courier to Tehran in time for the Iranians to fly to New York.
The United States says Iran's nuclear efforts are cover for a weapons program, but Tehran insists it only wants electricity. The Security Council imposed limited sanctions on Iran in December for its refusal to stop uranium enrichment.
Alejandro Wolff, the acting US Ambassador to the United Nations, said the nuclear debate should not be affected by the Iranian seizure of 15 British sailors and marines in the Persian Gulf today.