Ahmadinejad intends to meet with UN Secretary-General

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who had made a decision to attend the UN Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or NPT, is expected to meet with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday, the day the UN gathers together delegates from nearly 200 nations to review efforts to check the spread of nuclear weapons.

Ahmadinejad is scheduled to speak to delegates shortly after the Conference opens at the UN headquarters Monday morning.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who is also expected to speak at the conference Monday, said Iran's presence at the gathering is meant to "divert attention."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said earlier last week that it would be "helpful" if the Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to New York to participate in a conference aimed at stemming the spread of nuclear weapons, with some "constructive proposal to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue." But he said he is "unaware of any concrete ideas" Ahmadinejad intended to unveil before the nuclear conference.

Diplomats in New York expect that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will mark the opening of the conference by accusing the United States and its allies of using fears about proliferation as a pretext to deny developing nations access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes in breach of the NPT.