TEHRAN, (Reuters) – Iranian President Mahmoud  Ahmadinejad called on U.S. President Barack Obama yesterday to  face him in a televised one-on-one debate to see who has the  best solutions for the world’s problems.

The proposal comes as Iran deals with a new wave of  international sanctions driven by Washington aimed at putting  pressure on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program.

“Toward the end of summer we will hopefully be there for  the (U.N.) General Assembly and I will be ready for one-on-one  talks with Mr Obama, in front of the media of course,”  Ahmadinejad told a conference of Iranian expatriates in  Tehran.

“We will offer our solutions for world issues to see whose  solutions are better.”

Ahmadinejad suggested such a debate last September, which  was not taken up by Washington. He said Obama’s predecessor,  George W. Bush, had declined similar invitations because he was  “scared.”

Denis McDonough, chief of staff at the White House National  Security Council, was non-committal about a potential  presidential encounter.

Asked by CNN whether he would leave open the possibility of  a meeting between Obama and Ahmadinejad, McDonough said: “I’m  not leaving it open and I’m not closing it.”

Iran, the world’s fifth-largest oil producer, says its  nuclear program is a peaceful bid to produce electricity.

But its uranium enrichment activities, a process which can  have both civilian and military uses, has fed fears in some  countries that it is trying to build a nuclear weapon.

In his speech, the Iranian president mocked the sanctions  and the potential for a military strike against Iran’s nuclear  facilities, an option that the United States and Israel say  they do not rule out.

“Who do you think is going to attack us? The Israeli  regime? … We don’t consider the regime in our equations, let  alone attacking us,” he said.

“They say we’ll issue sanctions? Okay, do it. How many  resolutions have you issued so far? Four? Make it 4,000,” he  said to loud applause from the conference.

Both Iran and the United States have indicated willingness  to return to nuclear talks which stalled last October, leading  to the new sanctions.

Amid the anti-American rhetoric in which he said U.S.  policy was based on colonialism and the “law of the jungle,”  Ahmadinejad said he was ready for talks “based on justice and  respect.”

“We are ready to hold talks at the highest level,” he said.  “We have always favored talks, Iranians have never, ever  favoured war.”