President Bush was asked yesterday, “What’s your level of concern that if Iran does go down the road to building a nuclear weapon, that Israel will attack Iran to try to prevent that from happening?” Here’s how he responded: “Well, first of all, Iran has made it clear they – that they don’t like Israel, to put it bluntly. And the Israelis are concerned about whether or not Iran develops a nuclear weapon, as are we, as should everybody. And so the objective is to solve this issue diplomatically, is to work with friends, like we’re doing with France, Europe, and – I mean, France, Germany, and Great Britain, to continue making it clear to the Iranians that developing a nuclear weapon will be unacceptable.

“But” – for it seems here that the president of America was just getting warmed up in his reply – “clearly, if I was the leader of Israel, and I listened to some of the statements by the Iranian ayatollahs about – that regarded my security of my country, I’d be concerned about Iran having a nuclear weapon, as well. And in that Israel is our ally, and in that we’ve made a very strong commitment to support Israel, we will support Israel if – if there’s a – if their security is threatened.”

Well, so much for the Council on Foreign Relations. It seems that despite all the hand wringing our friends on 68th Street have been hosting, all the words they have published trying to illuminate the dangers of an Israeli military approach to this problem, the president of America has a clearer view of the matter. He made clear that he has not a scintilla of concern about the prospect that Israel might attack Iran. If he is concerned about anything, it is that Iran is going to attack Israel. It’s not as if Mr. Bush were speaking on one foot. This is the third clear signal to Jerusalem from Washington that if the Jewish state wants to take the lead in dealing with the Iran problem, it’s fine with Uncle Sam. If the Israelis were looking for a green light to go after Iran’s nuclear program, they just got one, big time.

The prior signals, for those who may not have been paying attention, included Vice President Cheney’s January 20 interview with Don Imus, in which Mr. Cheney said, “if, in fact, the Israelis became convinced the Iranians had significant nuclear capability, given the fact that Iran has a stated policy that their objective is the destruction of Israel, the Israelis might well decide to act first, and let the rest of the world worry about cleaning up the diplomatic mess afterwards. “And the report by David Twersky on Page 1 of the November 26, 2004, New York Sun that, at a dinner party two weeks before the election, President Bush said in reference to the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran, “It is Israeli policy not to let that happen,” adding, “Don’t go telling anyone I gave a green light.”

Giving a green light and not telling is different from not giving a green light at all. Yesterday, Mr. Bush went further than either the Cheney statement or his statement at the dinner party. Our own view is that the Iranian theocrats are so bent on attaining nuclear weapons that they won’t be deterred by mere words. And that if either the Israelis or the Americans intend to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, they’d do better to stop talking about it and just go ahead and do it. If they don’t intend to, it only increases the premium on other action to help change the regime in Tehran before it is too late.