USA: U.S President George W Bush hopeful about using diplomacy to discourage Iranian nuclear ambitions

U.S. President George W. Bush says he takes Iran's recent threats against Israel "very seriously." U.S. President George W. Bush said on Thursday (September 20, 2007) he remained hopeful of convincing Iran through diplomatic means to give up its nuclear ambitions. Bush was speaking a day after Iran, responding to Western debate about the possibility of war over its nuclear plans, said it would use any means to defend itself and that a plan of retaliation was being drawn up if Israel struck first. The president said he was working with allies to send a clear message to the Iranian government. "The free world's just not going to tolerate the development of know-how in how to build a weapon or at least gain the ability to make a weapon," Bush told a White House news conference. He said he takes Iranian threats toward Israel "very seriously" and described Israel as a "firm and strong ally." The United States and other Western powers suspect Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran insists it wants nuclear technology strictly for electricity generation. The president also refused to answer repeated questions about reports that Israel conducted air strikes in Syria earlier this month to target a possible nuclear facility. U.S. officials last week confirmed the strikes and said they were to target weapons Israel believed were headed for the militant group Hezbollah. But U.S. newspapers reported intelligence had led some U.S. officials to believe Syria was getting help from North Korea for a nuclear facility. The Israeli government has also refused to comment on the report. Syrian officials have said that their air defences forced Israeli jets to flee, dropping bombs harmlessly in the desert. Bush on Thursday did warn North Korea against allowing other countries to obtain any nuclear technology from its program, which Pyongyang has agreed to shutter. "We expect them not to be proliferating," Bush said, but emphasized that he was not commenting on possible nuclear assistance being provided to Syria by North Korea. Both Syria and North Korea have denied the reports of nuclear collaboration and Pyongyang said it stood by its pledge not to engage in nuclear proliferation. Several days after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke opted for a one-half percentage point cut in the benchmark interest rate, the president dismissed the notion the U.S. was on the cusp of a recession. "I say that the fundamentals of our nation's economy are strong," Bush said. He did acknowledge "unsettling times" in the housing market and credits associated with housing market. The deep rate cut on Tuesday (September 18, 2007) surprised many on Wall Street, who had anticipated a milder 25 basis point reduction in the federal funds rate

ITN Source | September 21, 2007

Tags:. .News Archive. .western. .threats. .electricity. .earlier