Bush seeks 'united front' on Iran nuclear program

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush urged the international community to form "a united front" to pressure Iran over its nuclear program amid apparent divisions with Russia and China on the issue.

"The message is: Give up your nuclear weapons ambitions," Bush told reporters as he met with his Cabinet a day before he was to outline the US approach in his annual State of the Union speech.

"We're united in our goal to keep the Iranians from having a weapon, and we're working on the tactics necessary to continue putting a united front out," said the US president.

Amid difficult talks aimed at easing US and European worries that Tehran seeks atomic weapons, Bush said "one option" was taking the Islamic republic to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

The United States has been courting support from Russia and China, both among the veto-wielding permanent five council members, for a harder-line approach while offering support for a compromise proposal from Moscow.

"Obviously, one option is for the PERM Five to work together to bring Iran to the UN Security Council," said Bush. "We're going to continue to work with our friends and allies to present a united front to the Iranians."

The 35-nation board of governors of the IAEA, the United Nations's nuclear watchdog, will on Thursday discuss an EU demand to send Tehran before the Security Council.

EU negotiations with Iran broke down this month after Tehran broke UN seals on a key nuclear facility in breach of a November 2004 agreement.

"The good news is, most of the world recognizes that Iran being the nontransparent society that it is, a government that had violated IAEA rules, is one that cannot be trusted with technology that could enable it to develop a nuclear weapon," said Bush.

"The other thing is that we want the people of Iran to be able to live in a free society. And so tomorrow night, I am going to talk about this issue and make clear the policy of the United States," said the US president.