Bush reassures Israel of US support over Iran

WASHINGTON – Visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will return to his country with reassurances from the Bush administration that it is not backing down from its view that Iran and its nuclear programme are a world threat.

With Olmert at his side following a White House meeting on Monday, President George W Bush told reporters that a nuclear-armed Iran not only would threaten Israel but loom as an “incredibly destabilising” threat to the region and the world. “I recognise the threat to world peace that the Iranians pose, as does the prime minister,” Bush said.Israel is worried that political fallout from last week’s Republican election defeat and rising calls for US engagement with Iran may soften Bush’s resolve against a country whose president has said the Jewish state should be wiped from the map.The president’s remarks come as his administration is considering changing its policy in Iraq, following last week’s Democratic election triumph that will give them control of Congress next year.Before meeting with Olmert, Bush spent an hour with a bipartisan commission that will recommend new US approaches for ending the widely unpopular war in Iraq.Among the options the panel has been considering is engaging Iran and Syria – longtime adversaries of the US – to help bring peace in Iraq.But in his remarks to reporters, Bush made no mention of such an approach to Iran.Instead, he emphasised his administration’s long-running effort to press Iran to abandon its nuclear programme, which the US and Israel say is aimed at developing weapons but Tehran says is designed to produce an energy source.He said that “rational people” in Iran should know that isolation was not in their interest.In New York, the leading nations of the UN Security Council worked once again without agreeing to sanctions that could begin pinching Iran.Nampa-AP”I recognise the threat to world peace that the Iranians pose, as does the prime minister,” Bush said.Israel is worried that political fallout from last week’s Republican election defeat and rising calls for US engagement with Iran may soften Bush’s resolve against a country whose president has said the Jewish state should be wiped from the map.The president’s remarks come as his administration is considering changing its policy in Iraq, following last week’s Democratic election triumph that will give them control of Congress next year.Before meeting with Olmert, Bush spent an hour with a bipartisan commission that will recommend new US approaches for ending the widely unpopular war in Iraq.Among the options the panel has been considering is engaging Iran and Syria – longtime adversaries of the US – to help bring peace in Iraq.But in his remarks to reporters, Bush made no mention of such an approach to Iran.Instead, he emphasised his administration’s long-running effort to press Iran to abandon its nuclear programme, which the US and Israel say is aimed at developing weapons but Tehran says is designed to produce an energy source.He said that “rational people” in Iran should know that isolation was not in their interest.In New York, the leading nations of the UN Security Council worked once again without agreeing to sanctions that could begin pinching Iran.Nampa-AP