Batoul Wehbe

11/06/2008 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Wednesday told US President George W. Bush he could not hurt "even one centimeter" of Iran's territory, after his latest warning over the Iranian nuclear drive. "I tell Bush ... that your era has ended and thank God you will not be able to damage even one centimeter of the holy land of Iran,"

Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech in the city of Shahr-e Kord. "If the enemy thought they could break the Iranian nation with pressure they are wrong. The Iranian nation ... will wipe the smile off its face." His comments came a day after Bush and European leaders warned Iran of new sanctions if Tehran refuses to halt its nuclear program, which the West fears could be cover for an atomic weapons drive.

Israeli Minister Shaul Mofaz's recent assertion that a military strike on Iran was 'unavoidable' prompted Bush to say that a military strike "really should be viewed as the need to continue to keep pressuring" the Islamic Republic. In an interview with The Times, published Wednesday, the president said “We ought to work together, keep focused," regarding the Iranian nuclear program.

Bush told the London-based newspaper that he was concerned that the Democratic nominee Barack Obama might open cracks in the West’s united front towards Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, but added that after is successor assesses “what will work or what won’t work in dealing with Iran”, he would stick with the current policy. Asked if the US is ready for a black president, Bush said, "I think the fact that the Democratic Party nominated Barack Obama is a statement about how far America has come.

During the interview Bush admitted that his gun-slinging rhetoric made the world believe that he was a “guy really anxious for war” in Iraq. He was quoted by the newspaper as saying that his aim was to leave his successor a legacy of international diplomacy for tackling Iran. Bush expressed regret at the bitter divisions over the war and said that he was troubled about how his country had been misunderstood. “I think that in retrospect I could have used a different tone, a different rhetoric,” he told The Times. Phrases such as “bring them on” or “dead or alive”, he said, “indicated to people that I was, you know, not a man of peace”.

The US president was on what he has called his last trip to Europe, a June 9-16 swing that was to take him on to Italy, the Vatican, France, and Britain, after a first stop in Slovenia for his final US-European Union summit. Bush, who has just seven more months in office, is expected to arrive in Rome late Wednesday afternoon. Bush arrived in Europe on Monday to attend the annual U.S.-European Union summit, held in Slovenia on Tuesday. After the summit, he began his farewell tour to Berlin. After Rome, Bush will travel to Paris, London and Belfast.

Bush prod German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday in whirlwind talks to further cut back Berlin's lucrative ties with Tehran over its nuclear drive. White House aides said Bush would ask Merkel for more help with Afghanistan and to tighten sanctions on Iran over its defiance of international demands to freeze nuclear work which Iran says is peaceful.

Bush predicted that the Washington and Baghdad would work through rifts and reach a deal on the continued deployment of US forces in Iraq. "I think we'll end up with a strategic agreement with Iraq. There's all kinds of noise in their system and our system," Bush said after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday.

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