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For the first time in 27 years, an Iranian president has sent a letter to an American president.

IRNA initially described Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's letter to President Bush as part of a mass mailing.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written a letter to the US President George W. Bush, government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said here Monday.

Elham made the remark while speaking to domestic and foreign reporters at his weekly press conference.

Earlier, Ahmadinejad had told reporters he had decided to send letters to leaders of certain countries on the occasion of Year of Great Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

"PBUH" is an acronym meaning "peace be upon him."

Next, IRNA provided these "details" about the letter:

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki here on Monday handed over a letter from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to his American counterpart President W. Bush to Swiss embassy in Tehran.

That's it.

The Islamic Republic News Agency, the government's official media arm, isn't giving Iranians very much information.

The Associated Press has more:

Iran's fiery president wrote to President Bush proposing "new solutions" to rising international tensions, a move announced Monday in an abrupt about-face apparently timed to blunt the possibility of eventual sanctions over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has spent months vilifying Washington and its allies as bullies trying to wrongly deny the Iranians the right to enrich uranium to fuel civilian nuclear reactors.

...The Bush administration said it had no knowledge of the letter and reiterated its demand that Iran suspend its nuclear activities.

How strange that Iran is talking about this groud-breaking letter and the White House doesn't know about!

It makes Iran look sort of silly.

The Iranian government spokesman who disclosed the communication did not mention the nuclear standoff and said the missive spoke to the larger U.S.-Iranian conflict _ which dates to the 1979 hostage crisis. The linchpin to any better understanding between Washington and Tehran, however, would be movement toward a solution on the nuclear issue.

...In Turkey, Iran's top nuclear negotiator said the letter "could lead to a new diplomatic opening" but also warned it contained no softening in Iran's position.

Ali Larijani refused to give details of the letter's content, but said, "Perhaps, it could lead to a new diplomatic opening. It needs to be given some time."

"There is a need to wait before disclosing the content of the letter, let it make its diplomatic way," Larijani said in an interview with Turkey's NTV television.

He said Tehran wants a peaceful solution to growing tensions with the United States, and was in neighboring Turkey, a key U.S. ally in the region, as part of efforts to rally support for Iran's nuclear program ahead of possible Security Council action.

Larijani warned against any U.S. attack on Iran.

"If they have a little bit of a brain, they would not commit such a mistake," he said. "Iran is not Iraq. Iraq was a weak country, it did not have a legitimate government. Iran is a powerful country."

Obviously, Iran needs to work on its diplomatic skills. If the letter contains language similar to that used by Larijani, I don't think it will assuage tensions between the U.S. and Iran.

Discussion of brain size isn't a good idea.

In the letter, Ahmadinejad proposes "new solutions for getting out of international problems and the current fragile situation of the world," spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham told a news conference.

Elham declined to reveal more, stressing "it is not an open letter." Asked whether the letter could lead to direct U.S.-Iranian negotiations, he replied: "For the time being, it's just a letter."

Apparently, it's "just a letter" that the U.S. govenment hasn't opened yet.