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The White House admitted yesterday that George W. Bush was told in August that Iran may have halted its nuclear weapons programme - contradicting the President's claim on Wednesday that he wasn't.
Mr Bush has for months called Iran a threat and in October raised the spectre of
World War III if it acquired a nuclear weapon.
The disclosure means he knew Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons programme in 2003, even while he was ramping up the rhetoric.
On Wednesday, Mr Bush said he was informed of the intelligence report last week, but said that US intelligence chief Mike McConnell told him in August there was new information on Iran.
"He didn't tell me what the information was. He did tell me it was going to take a while to analyse."
But yesterday, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Admiral McConnell told Mr Bush in August that Iran might have suspended its programme and that the new information might cause the intelligence community to change its assessment on Iran.
He told the President that new information had been obtained on Iran just as the intelligence agencies were about to finalise the report and that they would not be able to meet a congressional deadline for the estimate.
"He [McConnell] said that if the new information turns out to be true, what we thought we knew for sure is right. Iran does in fact have a covert nuclear weapons programme, but it may be suspended," Ms Perino said.
After the new National Intelligence Estimate was released on Wednesday, critics accused Mr Bush of hyping the threat from Iran, and some suggested similarities with the White House's much-criticised handling of prewar intelligence on Iraq.
One of the main justifications for the US-led March 2003 invasion of Iraq was that it had weapons of mass destruction. These were never found.
Mr Bush and his Administration have for months been trying to increase international pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme through more UN Security Council sanctions and by ratcheting up the rhetoric. Washington also accuses Iran of meddling in Iraq, which Tehran denies.
Democrat Senator Joseph Biden, a presidential hopeful, said that was "exactly what he did in the run-up to the war in Iraq in consistently exaggerating intelligence suggesting that Iraq had WMD, while failing to tell the American people about intelligence concluding it did not".
Mr Bush said the intelligence report had not changed his mind about Iran. He emphasised that view yesterday with a statement.
"It is clear from the latest NIE that the Iranian Government has more to explain about its nuclear intentions and past actions.
"The Iranians have a strategic choice to make: they can come clean with the international community about the scope of their nuclear activities and fully accept the longstanding offer to suspend their enrichment programme and come to the table and negotiate, or they can continue on a path of isolation that is not in the best interest of the Iranian people."
- REUTERS
