Jack Straw makes a historic visit to Iran today - the first since the Islamic revolution of 1979 - as part of three day diplomatic initiative to boost the Western anti-terror coalition.

The foreign secretary will ask the Iranian president about the whereabouts of suspected terrorist Imad Mughniyeh, the man thought to be behind the kidnappings of Western hostages in Beirut and believed to have been involved with the September 11 suicide attacks on Washington and New York.

The Iranian president is coming under intense pressure form hard-line clerics to reject Western overtures and refuse assistance for US attacks on neighbouring Afghanistan.