Ehud Olmert discussed Iran with President Bush. Bush met separately Wednesday with the Israeli prime minister and with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president, before the three participated in a short White House lawn ceremony launching a new phase of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. Israeli spokesmen said before the Bush-Olmert meeting that the two would discuss Iran. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Olmert would not provide details except to say, “I think that the fight against Iran’s armament with nonconventional weapons must continue in every way possible.” One of the goals of this week’s Israeli-Palestinian peace conference in Annapolis, Md., was to create a united front against Iran and its suspected nuclear weapons program. A number of Sunni Arab states that fear Iranian Shi’ite hegemony attended even though they do not have relations with Israel.
Olmert told reporters that he was “happy” with the furious Iranian response to the presence of Syria and Saudi Arabia at the talks, saying it helped prove the conference a success.
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