George Bush: War with Iran not ruled out

US President George Bush said that a military action in Iran was not a top priority, but it was not absolutely ruled out.

When a Belgian journalist asked him about a possibility of a military operation against Iran, Bush said: "Listen, first of all, you never want a president to say 'never.' But military action is certainly not - it's never the president's first choice".

The US is very interested in Iran abandoning its nuclear weapons program and is holding consultations with its European colleagues on this problem, he added.

"Diplomacy is always the president's first, at least my first choice. We all have the same aim, and it is to prevent Iran from having nuclear weapons", said Bush in an interview recorded in Washington and published on the eve of his visit to Brussels scheduled for next Sunday.

US President made this statement only a few hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin had said that Russia would continue to cooperate with Iran in the nuclear energy field, since that country did not intend to manufacture nuclear weapons.

At present the US is waging all-out information warfare against Iran.

Over the last several months Washington authorities have repeatedly taken tough stance toward Tehran, not ruling out the use of force.

Tension in relations between Washington and Tehran has been steadily building up after the formal termination of the Iraq war.

The US accuses Iranian leadership of harboring a number of "Al-Qaeda" leaders and prominent militants, attempts to interfere in Iraq's internal affairs, violations of human rights and plans to manufacture mass destruction weapons of their own, first of all nuclear weapons. In 2002 G. Bush officially ranked Iran among the "axis of evil" countries.