Israel sought U.S. OK to bomb nuke sites

JERUSALEM, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush told Israel earlier this year he wouldn't back an Israeli military attack on Iran, European diplomatic sources said.

Ehud Olmert, Israel's prime minister at the time, raised the issue during a meeting with Bush during the president's visit to Israel for the 60th anniversary of the state's founding, The Guardian reported Friday.

"He took it (the U.S. refusal) as where they were at the moment, and that the U.S. position was unlikely to change as long as Bush was in office," sources told the British newspaper.

Bush's decision to deny support for a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities likely was based on two factors, the sources said. One was a concern about Iran's probable retaliation, which could include attacks on U.S. military and other personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan and on shipping operations in the Persian Gulf.

The other was a fear that Israel wouldn't disable Iran's nuclear facilities in a single assault and initiating a multiday attack would risk a full-scale war, the Guardian said.

Iran repeatedly said it would react with force to any attack.