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Friday March 17, 12:49 AM US restates strike-first policy, warns Iran Photo: AFP Click to enlarge WASHINGTON (AFP) - Making no apologies for the war in Iraq, the United States reaffirmed its strike-first policy of preemption and warned that Iran may pose the biggest threat to US national security. "We may face no greater challenge from a single country than from Iran," the White House said in a 49-page blueprint called "The National Security Strategy of the United States of America." The report drew up a balance sheet of what it called US President George W. Bush's foreign policy successes and remaining "challenges" like bloody violence in Iraq and tense standoffs over nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea. It also warned Russia that its ties with the West depend on democratic reforms, and urged China to embrace greater political freedom -- while saying that Washington will "hedge" for the possibility this does not happen. And the report pleaded for patience with what has thus far been a mostly fruitless policy towards ending what it again referred to as "genocide" in Sudan's troubled region of Darfur. The blueprint made no direct reference to possible UN Security Council action to punish Iran for refusing to freeze sensitive aspects of its nuclear program, which Washington says hides an atomic weapons project. Instead, it referred to US-backed diplomacy by Britain, France and Germany, as well as efforts by Russia, and cautioned that "this diplomatic effort must succeed if confrontation is to be avoided." Bush has said that he hopes for a diplomatic solution to the North Korean and Iranian crises, while refusing to rule out military options. The document made clear that Washington does not view the failure to find the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that were at the core of its public case for the 2003 invasion of Iraq as a blow against its strategy of preventive war. That strategy was fleshed out in the 2002 version of the document, which built on Bush's position that the September 11, 2001 terrorist strikes made Cold War deterrence obsolete and required bolder action. "The place of preemption in our national security strategy remains the same," the White House said on Thursday. "We do not rule out the use of force before attacks occur." Bush had made Saddam Hussein's alleged possession of chemical and biological weapons and pursuit of nuclear arms the centerpiece of his case for war, but no such weapons have been found. "There will always be some uncertainty" about banned weapons programs, the White House said. "We have no doubt that the world is better of if tyrants know that they pursue WMD at their own peril." The document branded North Korea, Iran, Syria, Cuba, Belarus, Burma and Zimbabwe as tyrannies, and warned that tyrannies that seek weapons of mass destruction "threaten our immediate security interests." While praising Beijing's help on the North Korean nuclear crisis, Washington said it sought "to encourage China to make the right strategic choices for its people, while we hedge against other possibilities." On Russia, the document cautioned Moscow that "efforts to prevent democratic development at home and abroad will hamper" ties with its neighbors, Europe, and the United States. On Latin America, the document singled out Venezuela and referred to President Hugo Chavez as "a demagogue awash in oil money," who "is undermining democracy and seeking to destabilize the region." The document also restated Washington's support for the creation of a Palestinan state at peace with Israel and reasserted the US view that Hamas, which recently won a landslide election victory, must renounce violence, accept Israel, and disarm. It added so-called "bird flu" to HIV/AIDS as a disease with such severe ramifications that it rises to the level of national security threat. While the document is technically required every year, this is the first since 2002. The 2006 version comes as Bush's Republican party aims to make national security its central issue in November legislative elections. The report can be found online at www.whitehouse.gov/nsc/nss.html.