United Nations, March 17 (PTI): Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to address the UN Security Council before it votes on a resolution that would impose new sanctions against his country for refusing to abandon its controversial nuclear programe.

But it is not yet known when the meeting will be held as the Council is expected to discuss the draft in a private meeting on Wednesday at the earliest and if some changes are suggested, it could take a few days to finalize the draft.

This will be Ahmadinejad's first address to the Security Council where he is expected to defend Iran's enrichment programme and try to convince the skeptics that it geared towards peaceful purposes, including production of power.

Current President of the Council Dumisani Kumalo told reporters yesterday that he had sent the request from Iran's UN Ambassador Javad Zarif that Ahmedinejad would like to lead the country's delegation to the remaining 14 members and "we haven't received even one objection."

"So, I'm assuming it's going to happen, he said. In Washington, State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack said the visa requests for Ahmadinejad and his delegation have been routed through the American Embassy in Bern, Switzerland.

"We are going to make every effort to expedite the processing of these visa applications. Due to the strictures of law and regulation, I can't at this point predict for you whether or not a visa will be issued, but I would point out that we did issue the visas previously when there was a request for President Ahmadinejad to travel to the U.N," he said.