U.S. TO IRAN: YOU ATTACK ISRAEL, YOU ATTACK THE WORLD

Bush: Israel Is Our Ally; We Won't Be Blackmailed by Iranian Bomb
President Bush said Monday, "I'm concerned when the country of Iran, their president, announces his desire to see that Israel gets destroyed. Israel is our ally. We're committed to the safety of Israel, and it's a commitment we will keep. Secondly, I'm concerned about a non-transparent society's desire to develop a nuclear weapon. The world cannot be put in a position where we can be blackmailed by a nuclear weapon." (White House)

DEBKAfile REPORTS STATEMENTS BY US AMBASSADOR TO THE UN JOHN BOLTON SAID AT ISRAEL'S HERZILYA SECURITY CONFERENCE:

"An IAEA crisis meeting has been called for Feb. 2, but director Elbaradai wants it postponed by a month for his report. In a recorded speech to the Herzliya conference, American UN ambassador John Bolton said Monday the threat to wipe Israel off the map is a threat against the world."

THE JERUSALEM POST REPORTS MORE OF BOLTON'S COMMENTS:

Bolton: Bush won't tolerate nuclear Iran
US President George W. Bush will not accept a nuclear Iran, John Bolton, the US ambassador to the United Nations, said Monday. Bolton, speaking from New York via video hook-up to the Interdisciplinary Center’s Herzliya Conference, said that Bush was determined to pursue the issue through peaceful and diplomatic means, “but has made clear that a nuclear Iran is not acceptable.” According to Bolton, Bush worries that a nuclear-equipped Iran under its current leadership could well engage in a nuclear holocaust, “and that is just not something he is going to accept.”

Bolton said that if the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) referred the Iranian nuclear issue to the UN Security Council in early February, it would still be unlikely for the UN to immediately slap sanctions on Teheran.

“In the first instance I suspect that if it comes to the Security Council in a few weeks we would look for a statement that essentially calls on Iran to comply with the existing IAEA resolutions,” Bolton said. “I think that would be a gut check for the Iranians, and if they don’t heed that warning we would have to consider what to do next.”

Bolton said that referring the issue to the Security Council was a form of pressure on Iran to convince them to make the same strategic decision Libya made in 2004 - that their national interests would be better served, and they would be safer in giving up the purist of nuclear weapons, than in continuing that pursuit.

Bolton, who was very critical during his comments of the UN’s treatment of Israel, said - in an answer to a question - that the time had come to re-evaluate UNRWA, the UN body devoted to Palestinian refuges. When looking toward a two state solution, Bolton said, “you have to ask why one state, Palestine, has an entire UN agency devoted entirely to it.” Bolton asked why the UN Development Program, and other UN programs present in other countries around the world, would not be applicable to a Palestinian state as well.