Iran says 4,000 atomic centrifuges working

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Ahmadinejad travels to New York in September for the U.N. General Assembly. He used last year's visit to try to address the United States with a meeting at a university in New York.

"The president is of the opinion that the American people can be our influential targets," Sheikh Attar said.

This year's visit follows U.S. and other reports that Washington was considering opening a U.S. interests section in Tehran, after diplomatic ties were severed in 1980. The Swiss embassy now handles any U.S.-related affairs in Iran.

Tehran has said it has not been notified of any such plans.

"It would be gullible to think that America is seeking to relinquish its past policy," Sheikh Attar said.

"We have received no note in this connection, but if we are to receive a note, as Mr Ahmadinejad says, we will examine it and will decide with a view to the interests of the two countries," the deputy minister added.

A senior foreign policy adviser to the U.S. Democratic presidential candidate said on Thursday Barack Obama could open talks with Iran on its nuclear program early next year if he wins the November U.S. election.

Former U.S. national security adviser Tony Lake suggested Washington needed to give Tehran a sharper choice between the consequences of continuing its suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons and the benefits of giving it up.

(Additional reporting by Arshad Mohammad in Washington; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Giles Elgood)

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