Iran Remains Key Concern as Bush Returns

The view from the region was mixed. Israeli officials were clearly delighted by Bush's strong show of support, but Arab leaders appeared cautious: Many officials were upset with Bush's speech in the Israeli Knesset on Thursday, which they saw as tilted to the Israelis. Bush responded to that criticism by saying that the vision he delivered Sunday -- of freedom for all countries in the Middle East and an independent Palestine -- is exactly the same as he promoted in Israel.

Bush also offered a much more forceful endorsement of the Palestinian cause, saying that "we must stand with the Palestinian people, who have suffered for decades and earned the right to have a homeland of their own."

But many countries in the region are beginning to hedge their bets as the end of the Bush administration looms. One Saudi analyst saw that dynamic at work in the unwillingness of Saudi officials to make more than a token gesture in response to Bush's plea that they ramp up oil production to help bring down the skyrocketing price of gas.

"They don't feel they need to reward President Bush," said Adel Al Toaifi, a political analyst and columnist in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. "He is leaving in a few months, and it won't benefit him."

The same dynamic probably explains the caution many countries in the region feel about lining up with any further Bush efforts to isolate Iran. Bush has secured three U.N. sanctions resolution on Iran and has had even more success, officials believe, in pressuring the country with unilateral U.S. sanctions.

U.S. officials also said they are taking heart in what they described as the Iraqi government's success in beating back Iranian-backed militias near the Iraqi city of Basra.

The Iranians demonstrated "vulnerabilities in southern Iraq when they backed the special groups in Basra that ended up being overrun by the Iraqi security forces," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "They were armed and trained by Iran, and they got beat in southern Iraq."

But Iran has shown no signs that it is willing to halt uranium enrichment; Bush and his allies have set that step as a condition for opening talks. It has almost certainly not been lost on Iran that it might be able to get such talks without preconditions from the next president.

Hadley said Bush discussed several ideas with his counterparts last week about how to confront Iran, but he would not provide details. "I would say that this is also going to be a long and difficult problem, and that Iran has over the last several years gotten much more active, and it needs to be understood," he said.