STREAMWOOD, Ill., Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami visited a suburban Chicago mosque and urged Muslims to work for peace.
Khatami, who served from 1997 to 2005, told an invitation-only audience at the Bait ul Ilm Islamic Center in Streamwood, Ill., Saturday "there is a great opportunity of dialogue and cooperation by people of faith," the Chicago Tribune reported Sunday.
The reformist leader said his statements did not include Muslim extremists.
"I don't mean the extremists," he said. "I don't mean the terrorists."
The former president did not comment on Iran's nuclear development program, focusing instead on appeals for peace, the Tribune said.
Khatami was scheduled to visit a United Nations conference in New York this week to discuss ways to bring the Islamic and Western worlds together.
He was not expected to meet with any Bush administration officials and the U.S. State Department has said Khatami's visit was considered "private,"
the Tribune said.
