WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- The White House said Thursday U.S. President Barack Obama plans his first address to the U.N. General Assembly later this month.
He also plans to address Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's climate-change summit.
But Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, speaking to reporters in Washington, said he didn't yet have dates for the addresses. Published reports said the General Assembly speech is set for Sept. 23.
On Sept. 24, Gibbs said, Obama will serve as chairman of a summit-level meeting of the U.N. Security Council on "nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament."
"This is only the fifth time in the history of the U.N. that a head-of-state-level Security Council summit has been convened and the first time ever that a U.S. president will chair a U.N. Security Council summit," Gibbs said.
He said the Obama administration asked for the summit. The United States and other Western nations have been pressing for sanctions against Iran for its nuclear development program.
Asked whether Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been invited, Gibbs said, "I doubt it."
