Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will fly from New York to Washington DC on Monday night and will meet with several United States officials, including US President George W. Bush. Olmert said Monday morning that he and Bush would discuss the Iranian nuclear threat.

Olmert said that Israel could not allow Iran to become a nuclear power, but expressed confidence that Iran’s nuclear program can be stopped without military measures. “Sanction are effective,” he said. Olmert said he would tell Bush that the diplomatic steps against Iran must be more “more intensive.”