George Bush warns Putin over 'World War III' By Alex Spillius in Washington Last Updated: 2:11am BST 18/10/2007
President George W Bush has raised the spectre of "World War Three" breaking out if Iran was allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.
George W Bush: 'We are facing World War Three unless Iran is stopped' Bush's comments are likely to fuel speculation about possible US air strikes against Iranian targets
Mr Bush was speaking hours after Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, proposed an end to the crisis over Iran's nuclear programme at a meeting with his Iranian counterpart in Teheran.
Mr Bush said: "We've got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel.
"So I've told people that, if you're interested in avoiding World War Three, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon."
Mr Bush said he was not worried by growing Russian ties to Iran, which has been an American enemy since the 1979 Islamic revolution, though his tone betrayed unease about Mr Putin's motives. advertisement
He said he was "looking forward to getting Mr Putin's read-out from the meeting", but trusted that Mr Putin still agreed it was a bad idea for Teheran to build the bomb.
"He (Putin) recognises it's not in the world's interests for Iran to have the capacity to make a nuclear weapon, and they have been very supportive in the United Nations," Mr Bush added.
No further details were given on Mr Putin's proposal, which was made during his talks with Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei yesterday. The talks followed Mr Putin's back-slapping welcome on Tuesday from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose opinions on Israel have deeply alarmed the West.
Iran insists it is only pursuing peaceful nuclear energy, but has twice ignored United Nations resolutions demanding it stop uranium enrichment, which could be used in making a nuclear bomb.
Feeling increasingly isolated and fearing an American attack, the Islamic republic received a major boost from the visit by Mr Putin, who said US military action against Iran would be wrong. At the same time, the Russian leader resisted Iranian pressure to set a firm starting date for the nuclear power plant that Russia is building at Bushehr.
Mr Bush's remarks are likely to inflame a delicate situation, which has seen intense speculation about possible US air strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities and other targets.
The Pentagon is known to have drawn up attack plans and Mr Bush's close advisers are divided between those who think Teheran needs to be taught a lesson and those who think bombing raids would hand Mr Ahmadinejad a propaganda victory. Publicly, the president has repeatedly said that "all options are on the table" regarding Iran.
Critics will view Mr Bush's choice of words, which were delivered off the cuff, as typically injudicious, reminiscent of his early description of the war on terror as a "crusade".
"I am sure people around the world will be terrified by these comments," said Peter Beinart, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "There is clearly an apocalyptic streak in his rhetoric, but his historical understanding is very limited.
"Even if, God forbid, we went to war with Iran it wouldn't be World War Three because Iran is not a major power. It would be more of a colonial style war."
Earlier in the White House press conference, Mr Bush refused to answer repeated questions about an Israeli air strike inside Syria last month that US officials has said obliterated a nascent nuclear reactor built with North Korean assistance. "This is not my first rodeo," the president said.
Robert Gates, the American defence secretary, underlined the importance of space yesterday, saying that a Chinese anti-satellite test earlier this year exposed US vulnerability.
Mr Gates called on the military to protect "unfettered" US access to space, tying it to efforts to prevent weapons of mass destruction from falling into the hands of extremists.
"It is through space we monitor the weapons we already know exist," he said.
"It is through space that our troops and our leadership monitor the battlefield and communicate with each other. Therefore, it is space we must protect, especially as we expand its use."
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