Nuclear, Merkel warns Iran

“Let’s get ready for new sanctions”

ANGELA Merkel warns Iran: its nuclear program is a potential threat “for the region, for Europe and for the world”. If Tehran does not respond positively to UN requests, the Security Council will have to prepare for new sanctions. The interview of the German chancellor at the Welt falls on the day when the EU foreign ministers meet in Luxembourg. One of the themes of the meeting will be precisely the issue of sanctions against Iran: with a letter to his colleagues, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner had asked the EU to prepare for European sanctions without the UN, given that New York Russia and China block new decisions.

Today in the meeting Kouchner will explain the political reasons that lead France to ask to evaluate EU sanctions, but the ministers will not approve his proposal. The agreement already reached by the European ambassadors brings the two sides into agreement, effectively postponing any decision in November, when the UN will also have to meet to decide new sanctions against Iran.

EU ministers are waiting for their “foreign minister” Javier Solana to meet Iranian negotiator Alì Larijiani and confirm their interest in following the mediation of the IAEA director general, Mohammad el Baradei. But the political signal launched today by Merkel is very clear: Germany intends “to resolve the Iranian crisis at the negotiating table, but if Iran does not bend and does not accept the demands of the international community, we cannot close our eyes to the threat, tougher sanctions will become inevitable”.

Berlin begins to understand that its moral responsibilities towards Israel, and policies towards an international community that intends to lead as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, do not allow it to hesitate about the difficult Iranian game.

Merkel expressly refers to the UN as a place to decide new sanctions, but for the first time its tone towards Iran is particularly alarmed. “If the question is to witness Israel’s security threatened, I as a German chancellor say that this argument is not negotiable. It (Iran’s military nuclear) is a threat to the region, to Europe and to the world: we must prevent it.”

Berlin is one of Tehran’s main trading partners, so EU economic sanctions would primarily affect its own interests. For this, with Rome, Berlin has been working in the last few days for today’s EU Foreign Council meeting to end with a new warning to Iran, but without a decision on sanctions. European ministers in Luxembourg will declare that “the EU will consider what additional measures can be taken to support the process at the United Nations and the shared goals of the international community”.

October 15, 2007