16 June 2008

European Leaders Join Bush on More Iranian Sanctions

Leaders take further action to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons

British Prime Minister Brown (left) meets with President Bush at the prime minister’s residence, No. 10 Downing Street in London.

By Merle D. Kellerhals, Jr.
Staff Writer

Washington -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have joined President Bush in further efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons or the means to develop them.

"Today Britain will urge Europe and Europe will agree to take further sanctions against Iran," Brown says.  "We await the Iranian response and we'll do everything possible to maintain the dialogue."

Appearing with Brown at a news conference in London on June 16, Bush said Iran faces serious isolation and it will be the Iranian people who suffer the most unless the current regime halts efforts to enrich uranium in its nuclear development program.  "The free world has an obligation to work together in concert to prevent the Iranians from having the know-how to develop a nuclear weapon," he said.

The president added that the "Iranians must understand all options are on the table."

Javier Solana, the European Union high representative for the common foreign and security policy, was expected to brief European ministers in Luxembourg after visiting Iran June 14-15 to offer a package of incentives.  Six European nations and the United States have offered a set of political and economic incentives to convince the Iranian regime to suspend uranium enrichment, which could be used in the development of nuclear bombs.

The U.N. Security Council has imposed three sets of sanctions on Iran, though the scope has been limited to individuals, some firms with military links and several banks.

Bush is completing an eight-day visit to Europe, which may be his last before leaving office next January.  During his tour, Bush visited Brdo Castle in Kranj, Slovenia, to attend the annual U.S.-EU Summit, and also met with world leaders in Berlin, Rome and the Vatican, Paris, London and Belfast, North Ireland.

In London, Brown announced that Britain will freeze the overseas assets of the biggest commercial bank in Iran, Bank Melli.  He also announced that action will begin immediately for a new phase of sanctions on Iran's oil and natural gas industries.

In Paris at a joint news conference June 14, French President Sarkozy said with Bush that France's position on Iranian uranium enrichment is well-known.  "If Iran gets a nuclear bomb, that is totally unacceptable.  It is an unacceptable threat to world stability, especially when you think of the repeated statements made by the president of Iran right now."

Sarkozy said the only way to persuade the Iranians to halt the enrichment process is through a faultless, seamless sanction system.

And Brown in London also announced that Britain would send additional troops to Afghanistan.  "Our aim is to generate progress, where the fourth-poorest country in the world, laid low by decades of conflict, can as a democracy enjoy peaceful social and economic development, with our forces, over time, moving from a direct combat role to train and support Afghanistan's own army and police," he said.

Brown said Britain currently is playing a security role in Iraq and will continue to do so.

"Hopefully, the Iranian leadership will take a different position than the one they've taken in the past," Bush said.