President George W. Bush says that the United States will talk directly with the Iranian government when it complies with United Nations Security Council demands, including the suspension of all of Iran's uranium-enrichment and reprocessing activities:
"If they want to sit down with us, for the good of the Iranian people, they ought to verifiably suspend their program. We've made that clear to them. It is obvious to them how to move forward."
Mr. Bush says that because of its intransigence, Iran is becoming an "isolated nation":
"This is a proud nation with a fantastic history and tradition. And yet they've got a leader who constantly sends messages to the world that Iran is out of step with the majority of thinkers, that Iran is willing to become isolated, to the detriment of the people."
Mr. Bush cited the recent conference organized by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denying the systematic murder of European Jews by Germany's Nazi regime during the Second World War:
"I was amazed that, once again, there was this conference about the Holocaust that heralded a really backward view of the history of the world. All that said to me was that the leader in Iran is willing to say things that really hurt his country."
Speaking directly to the Iranian people, President Bush said that they are ill-served by their leadership:
"You can do better than to have somebody try to rewrite history. You can do better than somebody who hasn't strengthened your economy. And you can do better than having somebody who's trying to develop a nuclear weapon that the world believes you shouldn't have."
There is, said President Bush, "a better way forward."
The preceding was an editorial reflecting the views of the United States Government.
