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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Bush Says Iran Speeds Output of A-Bomb Fuel |
| 2004-11-20 |
| NYT EFL President Bush increased the administration's pressure on Iran on Saturday, accusing the country of speeding forward in the production of a key ingredient for nuclear weapons fuel, a move he said was "a very serious matter'' that undercut Iran's denials that it is seeking to build weapons. In back to back meetings with the leaders of China, Japan and South Korea here Saturday morning, Mr. Bush urged each to draw North Korea back into six-nation negotiations, while his aides played down informal intelligence estimates that the country has already produced enough plutonium in the past two years to manufacture six additional nuclear weapons. Taken together, Mr. Bush's efforts here underscored his determination to reverse two nuclear projects that appear to have made significant progress while American attention has been focused on Iraq. In Iran's case, Mr. Bush is clearly suspicious of a European-led effort to suspend the country's manufacture of nuclear material, and in North Korea he is facing a country that has defied every previous effort he has made to force it to dismantle what it has already built. Mr. Bush also had an unusual encounter on Saturday with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, questioning him over lunch about Mr. Putin's efforts to concentrate more power in the Kremlin. It was the first time Mr. Bush had expressed his concerns directly to the Russian leader - they had previously had a telephone conversation - and an American official said later that Mr. Putin was ready with a response. |
| Posted by:Mrs. Davis |