Again, Bush Warns Iran, Syria on Terrorism

President Bush accused Syria and Iran on Monday of undermining the Middle East peace process by continuing to harbor terrorists.

“This behavior is completely unacceptable, and states that support terror will be held accountable,” Bush said without elaborating.

The president has previously directed similar remarks at the same countries, which the United States accuses of supporting the radical Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah and other militant groups.

But Bush administration officials said his fresh and unprompted rebuke was intended to energize the stalemated talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas.

Abbas and Sharon met for two hours over the weekend but appeared to be at loggerheads over the next steps in the U.S.-backed peace initiative known as the “road map.”

Both men, separately, are set to meet in coming days with Bush at the White House. Each is bringing complaints about the other: Abbas wants Sharon to order more Israeli troop withdrawals from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and to release Palestinian prisoners; Sharon wants Abbas to dismantle Hamas and other militant groups.

Abbas is scheduled to be at the White House on Friday, and Sharon is expected a week from today.

Bush returned to Washington on Monday evening after having lunch with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at the president’s ranch near here, ending a long weekend in Texas during which he also raised more than $7 million at two fund-raisers, in Dallas and Houston, for his re-election campaign.

After the president spoke, senior administration officials said that his warning had previously been delivered to both Damascus and Tehran.

“We’ve talked to them about that, and made clear what needs to be done,” said one official, who declined to be more specific.

U.S. officials said that no new development prompted Monday’s warnings. They were meant, the officials said, to emphasize that the U.S. is serious about pressing forward with the “road map” plan for an Arab-Israeli peace. Iran and Syria have been broadly opposed to making peace with Israel.

Bush admonished the two countries in his opening remarks at a news conference with Berlusconi, after praising Abbas and Sharon for their “leadership and courage.”

“We’re encouraged by signs of progress in the Middle East,” the president said.

But he charged that, by aiding and abetting terrorists, Syria and Iran “undermine the prospects for peace in the Middle East and betray the true interests of the Palestinian people.”

The president called terrorism “the greatest obstacle to the emergence of a Palestinian state” and said all leaders who seek to establish a Palestinian state had “an obligation to back up their words in real actions.”

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan declined to say what specific actions Bush might be contemplating against either Syria or Iran.

“Those words are very clear,” he said. “I’ll let his words speak for themselves.”

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Staff writer Robin Wright in Washington contributed to this report.