Bush warns of 'holocaust' if Iran gets nukes

AFX
Aug. 30, 2007

US President George W Bush warned today that letting Iran acquire atomic weapons risked putting the Middle East 'under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust.'

'Iran's active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust,' he told a veterans group here.

Bush's speech to the American Legion aimed to convince a war-weary US public that the war in Iraq was the central front in the fight against what he described as the Sunni Muslim extremism of the Al-Qaeda terrorist network and the Shiite extremism fuelled by Iran.

'Iran's actions threaten the security of nations everywhere, and the United States is rallying friends and allies to isolate Iran's regime to impose economic sanctions. We will confront this danger before it is too late,' he said.

Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons and says that its atomic programme means to provide civilian power.