The US White House said yesterday that it had received a letter from Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but the letter did not address international concerns about Iran's nuclear program.

"It doesn't appear to do anything to address the concerns of the international community," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan, who is traveling with President George W. Bush to Florida.

"There are a number of concerns that the international community has with the (Iranian) regime and the letter doesn't appear to do anything to address those concerns," McClellan said.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush on finding new solutions to their differences, Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham said on Monday.

The letter was delivered to U.S. President George W. Bush by the Swiss embassy to Iran, Elham said.

However, both the White House and the State Department said earlier in the day that they were "unaware" of a letter from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to President George W. Bush.

Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said that the Iranian president's letter to Bush could create a "new diplomatic opening," but also warned that the letter did not reflect a softening in Iran's position.

The United States, which severed diplomatic relations with Iran in 1980 after the seizure of U.S. hostages in Tehran, has no contact with the Islamic Republic.