President Bush appealed over the heads of Iran’s ruling mullahs yesterday to the Iranian people, saying he understood their right to have nuclear energy for peaceful means.

But, on the eve of attending a summit in Vienna, Austria, that will coordinate world opinion, he warned Iran’s leaders against pursuing further uranium enrichment.

He also urged countries that pledged money to rebuild Iraq after the downfall of Saddam Hussein to fulfill their promise and provide the funds without delay.

In a “message to the Iranian people” during a commencement address at the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Long Island yesterday, Mr. Bush said the “United States respects you and your country. We admire your rich history, your vibrant culture, and your many contributions to civilization.”

His comments came about two weeks after America and representatives of European Union governments formally offered Iran a package of incentives in exchange for putting a freeze on enriching uranium that could be used for bombs and other weapons.

“If Iran’s leaders reject our offer, it will result in action before the Security Council, further isolation from the world, and progressively stronger policies and economic sanctions,” the president told a graduating class of more than 200 merchant mariners on the school’s football field.

He declared that America and its allies in the effort – Britain, Germany, France, China, and Russia – are united, a statement that seems to directly address recent differences among the group about the steps Iran must take before talks can begin.

“The leaders of Iran sponsor terror, deny liberty and human rights to their people, and threaten the existence of our ally, Israel,” Mr. Bush said. “We’ll provide more than $75 million this year to promote openness and freedom to the people of Iran.”

The 31-minute speech blended graduation rituals, with Mr. Bush giving out hugs, pats on the back, and handshakes, while touching on several other big-ticket items in his foreign policy agenda, such as the war in Iraq, the lifting of trade tariffs, and relations between the Israelis and Palestinian Arabs.

Despite a national approval rate stuck below 40% and mounting criticism over his handling of the war in Iraq, Mr. Bush got a boost earlier this month when the military captured and killed the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

His visit to the Merchant Marine Academy was the first time a sitting American president delivered the commencement address at the Kings Point campus. The crowd of graduating merchant mariners and family members gave him a warm and raucous welcome after his helicopter, Marine One, land ed on a nearby soccer field and the president was whisked to the ceremony in a seven-vehicle motorcade.

Mr. Bush joked that the graduates had survived the “Jamaican beef patties” in the school cafeteria and told of pranks that Andrew Card, his former chief of staff, endured when he attended the academy in the 1960s. “When he was a plebe, he was stuffed in a duffel bag and run up the flagpole,” Mr. Bush said. Mr. Card was with the president yesterday.

Mr. Bush is scheduled to leave today for Vienna, where he plans to meet with European Union leaders to discuss the Iran nuclear dispute. From there, he will travel to Budapest, Hungary, to mark the 50th anniversary of the failed Hungarian Revolution against the Soviet Union.

Yesterday Mr. Bush called nations that have pledged money to help with the rebuilding of Iraq to pay up. The international community, he said, has pledged $13 billion but only has provided $3.5 billion of that.

“All nations that have pledged money have a responsibility to keep their pledges,” he said. “And America and Europe will work together to ensure they do so.”

The graduates did not seem to mind the Secret Service agents and bomb-sniffing dogs on hand to protect Mr. Bush. Many praised the president after the ceremony, saying his presence put the oft-under-recognized academy on the map. One of those graduates, Gabriel Whitney, gave Mr. Bush a bear hug when he went to retrieve his diploma.

“I told him, ‘Thank you very much and you are the man,'” Mr. Whitney, a towering 25-year-old from New Hampshire, said after the ceremony.

“I fully support what he’s doing. He’s our commander in chief,” he said.

While the on-campus reception was warm, there were protests just outside the school’s entrance. A group of several dozen people chanted “Hey, Bush, what do you say, how many kids did you kill today?” and “No justice, no peace, U.S. out of the Middle East” as cars filed out of the event.