Bush and Putin warn Iranians

US President George Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin urged Iran and North Korea yesterday to abandon suspected nuclear-weapons programmes, but disagreed over how to deal with both countries.

Mr Putin gave no indication he was willing to pull back from an $800m (£480m) deal to build a power plant in southern Iran. Mr Bush has pressed Mr Putin for two years to abandon the project, and the International Atomic Energy Agency said last week it had found new evidence that Iran is enriching uranium.

Bush said the US and Russia jointly urged North Korea to "completely, verifiably and irreversibly end its nuclear programs". But, again, there was disagreement. Mr Putin said that in exchange for North Korea's dismantling of its nuclear program, the US should give the communist country a guarantee of its security. Mr Bush has been unwilling to do so.

Mr Putin also declined to pledge postwar help for Iraq.