President Bush said war funding legislation moving though Congress sets out a “clear road map” for progress by the Iraqi government and that the next few months will be a crucial period in the conflict.

Mr. Bush said at a White House news conference yesterday that the agreement on spending measure reached by the administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress demonstrates to the Iraqis and terrorists that America is united in support of its troops.

He also predicted American forces and their Iraqi counterparts will face more attacks as insurgents, terrorists, and sectarian fighters respond to efforts to bolster the country’s civilian government by sending in more American troops.

“This summer is going to be a critical time for the new strategy,” Mr. Bush said. “We’re going to see heavy fighting in the weeks or months ahead.”

During the news conference, Mr. Bush also said America will press for tougher sanctions against Iran for defying United Nations demands that they stop attempts to enrich uranium and that his administration is “watching very carefully” the Chinese government’s moves on currency valuation.

The president pressed Congress to pass compromise immigration legislation proposed by Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the Senate, calling it “the best chance to reform our immigration system.”

On Iraq, Mr. Bush suggested that the report from the independent commission headed by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Representative Lee Hamilton may yet provide the basis for the path ahead in the conflict.

The panel’s report, released last year, recommended shifting the American role to training and support for Iraqi units. The eventual goal would be to pull out of most combat troops by next year.

“As I have constantly made clear, the recommendations of Baker-Hamilton appeal to me,” Mr. Bush said. “But I didn’t think we could get there unless we increased the troop levels to secure the capital.”

While Mr. Bush didn’t say whether he endorsed the commission’s recommendation regarding scaling back combat forces by next year, he said, “I would like to see us in a different configuration at some point in time in Iraq.”

Planning for such a transition is “under way now,” Defense Secretary Gates said at a separate news conference yesterday at the Pentagon.

“That kind of a role clearly would involve fewer forces than we have now and forces with a different mission,” Mr. Gates said when asked to comment on Mr. Bush’s remarks.

Mr. Bush said he supported the funding legislation making its way through Congress, which also sets benchmarks for the Iraq government. The House of Representatives may vote on the measure to provide about $100 billion to pay for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through September, the end of the fiscal year. The Senate will take action before leaving town for the weekend.

Congressional Democrats, who don’t have enough votes to override a presidential veto, yielded to Bush and dropped demands to include a timeline for withdrawing American troops.

Mr. Bush argues that if American forces pulled out now, terrorists would fill the vacuum and convert Iraq into a staging area to wage war on free nations.

“Hopefully the Iraqi government would be wise enough to recognize that without coalition troops, U.S. troops, that they would endanger their very existence,” he said.

Public support for the war has eroded. 63% of Americans say America should set a date for withdrawing troops from Iraq in 2008, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released yesterday.

Since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, at least 3,424 American military personnel have died in Iraq and more than 25,500 have been wounded. Mr. Bush responded to a wave of insurgent and sectarian violence by ordering earlier this year an additional 29,000 troops sent to the country.

On Iran, Mr. Bush said America would work with European allies as well as Russia and China to impose stronger penalties on the Iranian government. He plans to discuss the issue with President Putin of Russia and President Hu of China.

“We need to strengthen our sanction regime,” Mr. Bush said.

The U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency told the Security Council Wednesday that Iran is defying U.N. orders to stop its uranium enrichment program, prompting American envoy Zalmay Khalilzad to call for tougher sanctions. The IAEA report found Iran is ignoring a U.N. deadline to stop enrichment.

President Ahmadinejad of Iran said yesterday in Tehran that his country won’t bend to Western pressure to stop uranium enrichment.

Chinese and Russian diplomats said that while they are prepared to work with the American and its European allies on a resolution pressing Iran stop enriching uranium, a new track of negotiations is needed.

“You can continue with the process of making up another resolution in the Security Council, but it will not work,” Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said.

Regarding immigration, Mr. Bush said the Senate proposal represents the comprehensive approach that America needs to deal with the 12 million undocumented workers already in the country and to get control of its borders.

The Senate is considering a compromise proposal that would give undocumented workers a chance for legal status and establish a merit-based point system for admitting future immigrants with job skills and educational credentials. It also would strengthen enforcement at American borders.

“This bill does not grant amnesty,” Mr. Bush said.