Bush Says Iran Risks World War.

President Bush on Oct. 17 issued a stark warning on Iran, suggesting that if it obtained nuclear weapons, it could lead to "World War III". He told a White House news conference: "We got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel" - referring to a remark by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad that Israel "will disappear soon". Bush said he had "told people that if you're interested in avoiding World War III, it seems like you ought to be interested in preventing them from having the knowledge necessary to make a nuclear weapon".

Loaded with symbolism, Bush's message was as much to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was then in Tehran, as to the Iranian theocracy. Putin was the first Russian or Soviet president to visit Iran since Joseph Stalin's World War II-time summit with Churchill and Roosevelt in 1943. Putin was in Tehran for the summit of the five Caspian Sea states. Putin agreed with the other Caspian rulers to endorse "peaceful" nuclear activities in the region and made clear Moscow's opposition to military action against Iran. He joined the leaders of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, as well as Iran, in agreeing not to allow their territories to be used for an attack on any member of the Caspian group - an indirect reference to the US.

Bush has said in the past that he would never "tolerate" a nuclear-armed Iran. But the comment on Oct. 17 was another sign that he did not accept a view stated in September by Lt Gen John P. Abizaid, who retired this year as the top American commander in the Middle East. The general said: "there are ways to live with a nuclear Iran". Bush sought in the news conference to make clear that his pressure tactics, including economic sanctions, were aimed at persuading the Iranian people to find new leadership.

Bush said: "The whole strategy is that, you know, at some point in time leaders or responsible folks inside of Iran may get tired of isolation and say, 'This isn't worth it', and to me it's worth the effort to keep the pressure on this government". He added: "My intent is to continue to rally the world, to send a focused signal to the Iranian government that we will continue to work to isolate you in the hopes that at some point somebody else shows up and says it's not worth the isolation". He was responding to a question about Putin, who from Tehran warned the US against military action there. Before that, in Moscow, Putin said he saw "no evidence" that Iran was trying to acquire nuclear weapons. Bush insisted that he and Putin saw eye to eye on the Iranian nuclear threat, saying: "We don't agree on a lot of issues. We do agree on some: Iran is one; nuclear proliferation is another".

Bush made his remarks on a day when Putin appeared in newspaper photographs standing side by side with Ahmadi-Nejad. Bush dismissed any notion that the pictures reflected like-mindedness, saying: "Generally, leaders don't like to be photographed scowling at each other".

Bush has never been able to ride out his oft-quoted remark that he had looked into Putin's eyes and got "a sense of his soul". On Oct. 17, he defended his brand of personal diplomacy, even as he expressed a wariness about Putin's commitment to democracy. (Under Russia's constitution, Putin is supposed to step down next year, but he has indicated that he may try to keep his power by becoming prime minister). At a recent meeting in Australia, Bush said, he asked Putin about his plans. Bush added: "I tried to, you know, get it out of him - who's going to be his successor, what he intends to do. And he was wily. He wouldn't tip his hand".