Bush prods allies for tougher Iran stance
KRANJ, Slovenia (AP) - June 10, 2008 "They can either face isolation, or they can have better
relations with all of us," Bush said of Iran's leaders while
capping his final European Union-U.S. summit.
The president and EU leaders embraced new financial sanctions
against Iran unless it verifiably suspends its nuclear enrichment.
They said Iran must fully disclose any nuclear weapons work and
allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to verify that work.
Iran is also under fire for defying three sets of U.N. Security
Council sanctions and continuing to enrich uranium - which can
generate both nuclear fuel and the fissile material for the core of
nuclear warheads. Iran insists that it has only civilian uses in
mind for its nuclear program.
The president flatly said Iran "can't be trusted with
enrichment."
"A group of countries can send a clear message to the
Iranians," Bush said. "And that is: we're going to continue to
isolate you, we'll continue to work on sanctions, we'll find new
sanctions if need be if you continue to deny the just demands of a
free world."
Speaking to reporters on the lush, sun-splashed lawn near Brdo
Castle, Bush also fielded questions on economic woes at home and
climate change.
Bush essentially rejected the idea of possible government
intervention to prop up the value of the U.S. dollar. He said he
believed in a strong-dollar policy, but that world economies will
end up setting the value of the dollar.
On global warming, Bush declared, "I think we can actually get
an agreement on global climate change during my presidency," which
ends on Jan. 20, 2009.
He said no global warming agreement can be effective without
China and India. The United States has been at odds with allies
about whether any climate strategy should include mandatory
emission reductions, among other sticking points.
Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, the president of the
European Council, said European members and the United States might
have different approaches to some of its common challenges. He said
a global agreement without the developing countries would be a
short-term solution.
But he added "those who are the most developed have to take the
leading role."
The summit, consisting of about three hours of meetings and a
working lunch, took place in a modern glass building on the vast
Brdo grounds in the shadow of Slovenia's jagged mountain peaks. The
president had a long list of issues to cover with his European
counterparts, but Iran seemed to dominate.
Six world powers - the United States, Russia, China, Britain,
Germany and France - are developing a package of fresh penalties
and incentives aimed at reining in Tehran's alleged atomic
ambitions. The EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, plans to
visit Iranian leaders soon in Tehran to appeal to them to accept
negotiations over the nuclear standoff.
Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said that
Solana will convey that message when he travels there, adding that
Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wasn't expected to
be among those consulted.
Hadley said political, economic and diplomatic benefits are
available "if they suspend the enrichment and come to the table."
Bush and the heads of the EU, a political and economic coalition
of 27 countries that works to promote security and commerce across
the continent, called on Tehran to stop its support for terrorist
organizations destabilizing the Mideast. The statement said the
United States and the EU would work to ensure that "Iranian banks
cannot abuse the international banking system to support
proliferation and terrorism."
The Bush administration has warned that Iran is using an array
of deceptive practices to hide involvement in nuclear proliferation
and terrorist activities.
It was unclear whether the freshly stated concern over Iranian
banks Tuesday meant that Europeans had signed on for the kind of
tough measures the U.S. favors, such as banning business with
Iranian banks, or merely represented a repeat of previous calls for
closer monitoring of dealings with them. Iran's central bank, also
known as Bank Markazi, is involved in these deceptive acts,
according to the U.S. government.
Bush warned that if Iran ends up with a nuclear weapon, "the
free world is going to say why didn't we do something about it at
the time? ... Now's the time for there to be strong diplomacy."
Addressing the clamor for sanctions at the meeting here, Bush
said, "First of all if, if you were living in Israel you'd be a
little nervous, too. If a leader in your neighborhood announced
that they, he'd like to destroy you. And one sure way of achieving
that means it through the development of a nuclear weapon.
Therefore, now is the time for all of us to work together to stop
them."
Bush flew to Berlin later Tuesday for a social dinner with
German Chancellor Angela Merkel. During his weeklong stay in
Europe, he also is going to Italy, France, London and Belfast.
He took a helicopter from the airport from Schloss Meseberg, a
guest house of the federal government about 50 miles north of
Berlin. Bush, Merkel, and their spouses, walked across a
cobblestone plaza. A reporter asked what he liked about Germany.
"The people. Followed by the countryside," he said.
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Associated Press Writers Snjezana Vukic and William Kole in
Kranj, Slovenia, contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
U.S.-European Union summit: http://tinyurl.com/3vwqog
Transatlantic Economic Council:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/enterprise-policy/inter-rel/tec/index
-en.htm
