Bush: Tougher sanctions needed
Photo: AFP
Iranian leader Ahmadinejad at nuclear plant
Photo: AFP
EU Summit: Tougher sanctions on Iran
US president, EU leaders warn Iran they plan to launch new, more serious sanctions if country does not suspend nuclear activity. Bush: Iran with nuclear weapon incredibly dangerous to world peace
US President George W. Bush, pushing for a tougher international stance against Iran's nuclear ambitions, came together with his European partners Tuesday to embrace financial sanctions beyond those the United Nations already has undertaken to pressure Tehran.
During the EU Summit, held in Slovenia, the US president pushed for the agreement of Britain, Germany and France on a package of new penalties and incentives aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. According to the summit declaration, Bush and the EU leaders were poised to threaten Iran with
further financial sanctions unless it verifiably suspends its nuclear enrichment.
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The statement said Iran must fully disclose any nuclear weapons work and allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's watchdog group, to verify that any such work has ceased.
Bush and the heads of the EU, a political and economic coalition of 27 countries, called on Tehran to stop its support for terrorist organizations destabilizing the Middle East. The statement said the US and the EU would work to ensure that ''Iranian banks cannot abuse the international banking system to support proliferation and terrorism.''
Bush warned that Iran, if armed with a nuclear weapon, would be "incredibly dangerous for world peace. So we've got to continue to work together to make it clear, abundantly clear, to them, that 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 program."
Bush with EU leaders in Slovenia. (Photo: AP)
Iran has insisted that it has only civilian uses in mind for its nuclear program. Yet it is under fire for defying three sets of UN 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 has also stonewalled attempts by the IAEA to delve into allegations that several Iranian projects appear to represent different components of a nuclear weapons program.
''A mutually satisfactory, negotiated solution remains open to Iran,'' the summit's statement said. But the leaders also said that they would fully implement UN sanctions against Iran and were ''ready to supplement those sanctions with additional measures.''
The Bush administration has warned that Iran is using an array of deceptive practices to hide involvement in nuclear proliferation and terrorist activities. Iran's central bank, also known as Bank Markazi, is involved in these deceptive acts, according to the US government. The White House has been looking at new steps to cut off more Iranian banks from the international financial system and has been seeking backing from European allies.
It was unclear whether the newly stated concern over Iranian banks Tuesday meant that Europeans had signed on for the kind of tough measures the US favors, such as banning business with Iranian banks, or merely represented a repeat of previous calls for closer monitoring of dealings with them.
