Bush, Italian President Napolitano Meet, Discuss War on Terror and Iran

On Tuesday, the Oval Office issued a transcript of statements made by President Bush and Italian President Giorgio Napolitano following a meeting between the two national leaders earlier in the day.

"We discussed Afghanistan, Lebanon, Kosovo...by and large, we're in agreement on how to advance the solutions to these issues...[I] have expressed and will continue to dialogue with the President about my deep concern about Iran. Iran is dangerous...we believe Iran had a secret military weapons program. And Iran must explain to the world why they had a program...Iran is dangerous, and they'll be even more dangerous if they learn how to enrich uranium," stated President Bush.

"Italy is present in several areas of crisis. In this moment, it is an Italian general who is taking the command of the Kabul region in Afghanistan. In Iraq, we give our contribution to the stabilization of the country, participating in NATO training activities...We want to discuss constructively our positions on all questions and all threats. We just want to give our contribution and our idea how to face successfully all threats, including the relative threat of nuclear weaponization of Iran," stated President Napolitano.

The statements concerning the war on terror and Iran come in the wake of breaking news from an Iranian dissident group that says that Iran took up it secret nuclear weapons program again in 2004 and continues it to this day. The group, speaking from Brussels, Belgium, insists that Iran spreads misinformation to Western to cloud its judgment through the work of double agents and that the nation is lying about its cessation of its nuclear weapons program.

In an already famous study published a little over a week ago, 16 independent U.S. intelligence agencies stated that they are highly confident that Iran was pursuing a secrete nuclear weapon program but that it ceased and desisted from that in the Autumn of 2003. Analysts say that this was probably due to a lack of resources and Iranian fear over the close presence of Western military powers in the wake of the invasion of Iraq.