President Bush's decision to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a "global terrorist" group is raising fears that he is ratcheting up pressure as a prelude to military action.

Jewish leaders, who have been urging a tougher approach to Tehran, should brace for a new round of accusations that they are pushing this nation to war.

Adding fuel to the accusations will be the publication by professors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt of a book-length version of their screed lamenting the power of the pro-Israel lobby (read: Jews). The two have insisted the "Lobby" is too powerful and runs American foreign policy to the detriment of the nation and the world.

Their previous versions of this thesis have been short on original research and long on inaccuracies, particularly their contention that Israel's supporters drove this nation to war in Iraq, a perception fed by repeated efforts by the administration to portray the invasion of Iraq as essential to protecting Israel.

In fact, Israeli leaders privately told the administration they did not consider Saddam Hussein's regime a mortal threat. The majority of American Jews opposed the war from the outset, notwithstanding an influential circle of Jewish advisers at high levels in the administration.

But the case of Iran is very different, and friends of Israel have been among the loudest voices pressing the past two administrations to get tougher with the ayatollahs and prevent them from building nuclear weapons.

While not explicitly calling for war, their increasingly strident claims about Iran and their efforts to prevent Congress from limiting the Bush administration's authority to start another war lend credence to the view that in the end, they believe military action is the only solution to the crisis.

Long before Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began threatening to wipe Israel off the map, Iran was the top target of the major pro-Israel groups, particularly the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. AIPAC has been waging a 15-year campaign alerting Congress to the threats from the regime.

AIPAC was the driving force behind congressional enactment of the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act during the Clinton administration. AIPAC lobbied vigorously and successfully this summer to block legislation that would require the president to get congressional approval before attacking Iran.

Publicly the group eschews any desire to see war and stresses the need for diplomacy and sanctions. Privately, however, like many Jewish groups, its leaders don't believe those will work with Iran any more than they did with Iraq.

On AIPAC's Web page, the top legislative and grassroots priority is tightening sanctions on Iran, even above supporting military aid to Israel.

A keynote speaker at this year's policy conference was the Rev. John Hagee, the head of Christians United For Israel, who in July at his "Night to Honor Israel" called once again for preemptive war against Iran.

Vice President Dick Cheney is said to be pressing for military action against Iran, initially by striking Revolutionary Guard positions inside Iraq. Iranian nuclear facilities are also a potential target.

So far there does not appear to be a consensus inside the administration, in part because its options are limited by the fiasco in Iraq. This week there were reports that the Army is stretched almost to the breaking point in Iraq, and Republican opposition to the war is growing as lawmakers spend this month's recess listening to constituents.

One of those worried that Cheney's jingoism may prevail is Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.), the peripatetic chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Lantos has probably met with more world leaders than the secretary of state.

Lantos was quick to praise Bush's decision to designate the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group — something he has called for — while pointedly warning the administration it has not exhausted its diplomatic and economic options and that use of force would be "unwise and unsupported" on the Hill or in the public.

A well-placed congressional source said Republicans feel so vulnerable as a result of their votes in support of the bankrupt Cheney-Bush policy in Iraq that the administration won't even get support for action against Iran in the House GOP cloakroom.

Israeli and American Jewish leaders are right to speak out about the threat posed by Iran's sponsorship of terrorism and its nuclear ambitions. They are right to worry about the ineptitude of America's leaders in dealing with these problems and their failure to muster the vital international support to confront the regime and its nuclear ambitions.

The reality is that Iran is a greater threat to its Arab neighbors than it is to Israel, and it is a threat to Europe and to America not only because it is spreading terrorism and radical Islam into those lands but also because of its oil weapon.

But Jewish leaders have been ineffective in broadening their argument, a task made even more difficult by an administration that once again wants to use Israel as an excuse. Many of the most strident voices about the Iranian threat, from the White House to Capitol Hill, frame the argument in terms of the threats against the Jewish state. Once again, protecting Israel is being used to justify the ideology-driven push to war. And this time, Jewish leaders, who continue to ratchet up the rhetoric about Iran are their indirect partners.

They do Israel no favors; they only give fodder to the professional Israel bashers like Walt and Mearsheimer.