During a town hall-style meeting here, Bush said he supported Moscow's deliveries but said that they proved that "the Iranians do not need to learn how to enrich" on their own and vowed to seek more UN sanctions against Tehran.

"Iran was a threat to peace, Iran is a threat to peace, and Iran will be a threat to peace if we don't stop their enrichment facilities," which can be a critical step towards getting nuclear weapons, the US president said.

Bush pointed to Iran's efforts to develop ballistic missiles, its uranium enrichment program, and a recent US intelligence finding that Tehran halted a covert effort to "weaponize" uranium in 2003.

"If somebody had a weapons program, what's to say they couldn't start it up tomorrow? Since they tried to hide their program before, how would we know?" he said. "They owe an explanation to the world. They need to tell the world why they had a program that they didn't report."

"Iran is a danger. And we will continue to work with friends and allies to convince them that it is in their interests to suspend their enrichment programs," the president said.

"And if they do, there is a way forward for them that is different from the path they're headed down now. They're heading down a path of isolation right now and economic sanctions. We passed two resolutions out of the UN and (US Secretary of State) Condi Rice is working on a third," he said.

Bush noted Russia's announcement that it would ship nuclear fuel to Iran's first atomic power station, the unfinished Bushehr plant, and said such deliveries further reduced Tehran's need to enrich uranium.

"If that's the case, if the Russians are willing to do that -- which I support -- then the Iranians do not need to learn how to enrich. If the Iranians accept that uranium for a civilian nuclear power plant, then there's no need for them to learn how to enrich," he said.

The delivery process will take up to two months to complete, the state-run Atomstroiexport said, with the Russian-built station starting to generate electricity in approximately six months time.

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