President Bush is greeted by Saudi King Abdullah at the King's Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, yesterday. In the centre is United States interpreter Gamal Helal. - AP

CAIRO, Egypt (AP):

United States (U.S.) President George W. Bush's trip to the Mideast is suddenly dominated, not by Iraq or the push for Israeli-Palestinian peace, but by a renewed and ferocious U.S. and Iranian propaganda war.

In the last few days, Bush and other top U.S. officials have highlighted the dangers of last week's Persian Gulf ship confrontation, claimed that Iranian attacks inside Iraq are again spiking, and pointedly labelled Iran the worst state terror sponsor.

Evident challenge

The tough words seem aimed at assuring both Arab allies and Israel that the United States remains intent on pressuring Iran, despite last fall's U.S. intelligence estimate that concluded Iran had halted its nuclear weapons programme four years ago.

In the report's wake, Bush faces a genuine challenge trying to keep strong international pressure focused on Iran, amid Russian and Chinese desires to ease up. Iran's promise, announced Sunday, to shortly answer remaining United Nations' questions about its past nuclear activities is likely to give the two more ammunition to forestall a new U.S. push for sanctions.