Bush Talks Tough Says Strike on Iran is Possible

The Associated Press

MESEBERG, Germany -- President Bush yesterday raised, unprompted, the possibility of a military strike in response to Tehran's presumed nuclear-weapons ambitions, speaking bullishly on Iran even as he admitted having been unwise to do so previously about Iraq.

Bush's host over two days of meetings at a baroque castle, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, made clear her views on the saber-rattling - however subtle - without directly countering her guest.

"I very clearly pin my hopes on diplomatic efforts," Merkel said, reflecting the deeply held European opinion that military action against Iran is nearly unthinkable.

Iran's leader weighed in, too.

Speaking before thousands in the central Iranian city of Shahr-e-Kord, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Bush "won't be able to harm even one centimeter of the sacred land of Iran," and promised continued defiance over Iran's nuclear activities.

Iran says it is enriching uranium to generate electricity, not build a bomb - a claim the West doubts is true.

"In the past two, three years, they employed all their might, resorted to propaganda . . . and sanctions," Ahmadinejad said. "If the enemy thinks they can break the Iranian nation with pressure, they are wrong."

Bush has alternated lately between slightly more conciliatory and slightly more forceful language on Iran.

Within the coded language of the US attitude toward Iran, several small changes in Bush's rhetoric yesterday added up to a difference.

Three times, he called a diplomatic solution "my first choice," implying there are others. He said, "we'll give diplomacy a chance to work," meaning it might not.

He also offered, without being asked a question about Iran, that "all options are on the table" - a longtime standard refrain, not heard as much lately, that neither confirms nor denies an intention to use military force.

Last week, Bush talked tough on Iran with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel, where fears of Iran's growing power run high and discussion of military action to keep Tehran in check is becoming increasingly common.

But in Slovenia on Tuesday at a summit with the European Union, Bush's approach was milder. He emphasized the need for tough new sanctions, but made no mention of "all options" being on the table.

There is no indication the United States actually plans any sort of military action, and experts believe it would be an extremely difficult feat, tactically, for many reasons.

Bush's back-and-forth talk appears designed more to both remind Iran that the United States is serious about keeping it from developing a nuclear bomb and to try to finally corral sometimes reluctant allies behind a common firm stand.