US, EU threaten Iran with new sanctions

BRDO PRI KRANJU, Slovenia, (Agencies) - US President George W Bush and European leaders warned Iran Tuesday of new sanctions if Tehran refuses to halt a nuclear programme the West suspects to be a covert atomic weapons drive.

Following a two-hour meeting that touched on Iran and a host of issues including climate change and trade, Bush and his European counterparts indicated they were prepared to go beyond current United Nations sanctions to try to ensure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon.

"Iran with a nuclear weapon would be incredibly dangerous for world peace," Bush said at a joint Press conference after his final US-European Union summit with Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

"Now's the time for all of us to work together to stop them."

The US President dismissed talk of divisions between hardline Washington and Europe, which plans a new package of diplomatic and economic incentives if Iran will verifiably halt uranium enrichment.

"We're on the same page," he declared.

"Now's the time for there to be strong diplomacy," he said, as the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, prepared to travel to Tehran with a new incentives plan.

Bush's tone was not entirely conciliatory. Bush publicly restated the US position that Turkey ought to become a member of the European Union - a view sharply opposed by Berlin and Paris.

A joint US-EU statement from the US and the 27-nation European Union warned Iran to freeze uranium enrichment - which can be a key step towards a nuclear weapon - or face "additional measures".

Unless those obligations are met, the statement said that the United States and EU were prepared "to supplement" existing UN sanctions with "additional measures."

The communique indicated that the focus would be on Iran's financial system "to ensure Iranian banks cannot abuse the international banking system to support proliferation and terrorism."

Neither Jansa nor Barroso made specific remarks on Iran. But a White House release said the group had agreed to "additional measures" against the country because of concern about its nuclear program, and Bush characterized a nuclear Tehran as a threat to world peace.

Bush pledged trans-Atlantic cooperation to tighten the squeeze on the Islamic republic's banks. "It's their choice to make: They can either face isolation or they can have better relations with all of us if they verifiably suspend their enrichment programme," said Bush. "We'll find new sanctions if need be."

After Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa said no one country had the answer to every issue and that there would not always be US-EU harmony, Bush emphasized: "One country can't solve all problems, I fully agree with that."

On Saudi Arabia, Bush said a Saudi proposal for a meeting between major oil producers and oil consuming nations to discuss soaring prices was "interesting".

It is "an interesting idea by his majesty the King of Saudi Arabia," Bush told reporters.