WASHINGTON, Aug 22: Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami has been invited to give a public address at the Washington National Cathedral next month, church officials said on Tuesday.

Despite a diplomatic standoff with the Islamic Republic, the Bush administration has agreed to issue a visa to Mr Khatami, the officials said.

Reverend John Peterson, director of the cathedral’s Centre for Global Justice and Reconciliation, said the former president would be the most senior Iranian official to visit Washington since the 1979 revolution.

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