President George Bush has warned that world leaders risk helping bring about "World War Three" unless they do more to prevent Iran developing nuclear weapons. The warning comes hot on the heels of apparent backing from Russia for Iran's nuclear programme.

In remarks timed to coincide with Russian president Vladimir Putin's visit to Tehran, Bush said the Islamic republic must remain isolated until it drops its nuclear ambitions. Repeating a story that is known to stem from a mistranslation, Bush nevertheless told a White House press conference that "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."
Bush's statement follows the warm words exchanged by Russian president Putin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, at an historic summit in Tehran. After their meeting Putin repeated Moscow's line that there is no evidence to suggest Iran wants to build a nuclear bomb, and pledged to continue helping the country develop its civil nuclear technology. As mentioned in the REAL NEWSpaper, Iran's nuclear ambitions date back to the regime of the Shah, and is more than ever required to sustain the energy needs of its population.

As the first Kremlin leader to visit Iran since Josef Stalin in 1943, he also secured the vital backing of Azerbaijan in a five-nation pact by the Caspian states to prevent the US from using the region as a staging ground for military action against Iran, preventing what could indeed be the early stages of World War Three.
Although Russia lent its reluctant backing to two United Nations resolutions imposing sanctions on Iran, it has been stridently opposed to escalating the penalties after Tehran refused to stop its uranium enrichment programme. Among Western diplomats, opinion is divided as to whether Russia - which has little to gain from a nuclear Iran - will eventually acquiesce.
The United States has said it is pursuing a diplomatic approach to Iran, including the threat of a new round of United Nations sanctions, but has refused to rule out military action to halt Iran's nuclear program, which it believes might be used covertly to develop nuclear weapons.

But in Tehran, Putin said, "Not only should we reject the use of force, but also the mention of force as a possibility." Proposed new UN sanctions against Iran, pressed in particular by the United States and France, have so far been blocked by Russia, which holds a veto on the Security Council and wants further dialogue with Tehran. But Putin has gone further, questioning what evidence the Americans and French have for asserting that Iran intends to make nuclear weapons.
And while Putin says that Russia is taking Iran's descriptions of its program at face value, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently asserted that Iran was lying to UN inspectors - a line used by Bush Administration in regards to Iraq and its Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Bush, seeking to explain his relationship with a man whom he once said he viewed as a trusted ally against terrorism, said that he and Putin "don't agree on a lot of issues." Still, he said, it was vital to maintain an open and candid relationship that allowed each man to speak his mind. The president nonetheless acknowledged American frustrations at trying to influence Russia. "In terms of whether or not it's possible to reprogram the kind of basic Russian DNA, which is a centralized authority," Bush said, "that's hard to do." The best he could do, the president said, was to try to make it clear that it is in Moscow's interests to have good relations with the West, and an open and democratic government.