US President George W. Bush warned Iran on Wednesday that it must be barred from nuclear weapons to avoid the prospect of "World War III" and dismissed suggestions of a US-Russia rift on the crisis.
Bush intervened hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin made a new proposal to end the nuclear crisis as he met Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for landmark talks in Tehran.
Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, revealed meanwhile he would hold new talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Tuesday in Rome to search for a solution to the atomic standoff.
PHOTO: AP
Bush upped US rhetoric at a White House news conference, warning the world must do more to isolate the Islamic republic.
"We've got a leader in Iran who has announced that he wants to destroy Israel," Bush said.
"So I've 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," Bush said.
Iranian officials said Putin put forward a proposal to break the deadlock over the Iranian nuclear program during his visit, but gave no further details.
Earlier, Putin and Ahmadinejad shook hands and smiled, as they met for talks in Tehran.
"I'm looking forward to getting President Putin's read-out from the meeting," Bush said.
"The thing I'm interested in is whether or not he continues to harbor the same concerns that I do," Bush said.
US Representative Barbara Boxer slammed Bush for his cataclysmic view about Russia, especially after he described Putin as a good man on their first encounter.
"I keep hoping the president will do the right thing, but he just seems to go down that cowboy path all the time," she told reporters. "I don't think he understands that his words have to be measured and it's quite unfortunate."
Putin also held talks with Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and was quoted by state TV as hoping for a "new page" in Moscow's relations with Iran.
Last week, Putin said after talks in Moscow with French President Nicolas Sarkozy that Russia had no information Iran was trying to make a nuclear bomb.
"I look forward to having him clarify" those [comments], Bush said.
"Because when I visited with him, he [said he] understands that it's in the world's interests to make sure that Iran does not have the capacity to make a nuclear weapon," he said.
Putin also called during a summit with Caspian leaders for any prospect of foreign military action against Iran to be ruled out.
Washington refuses to renounce the military option, spurring speculation on the chances of a US strike should diplomacy ultimately break down.
Hours after Putin left Iran, Israel said that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert would visit Russia yesterday for what one official described as a "last-minute, urgent meeting."
"The two intend to discuss a series of regional issues, including the peace process with the Palestinians, Iran's threat and attempt to acquire nuclear weapons, and developments in the region," Olmert's office said.
Israel is one of the leading campaigners against Iran's nuclear ambitions along with chief ally the US, but is widely regarded as the Middle East's sole -- if undeclared -- nuclear armed state.
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