Germany, France back tougher pressure on Iran

AP/Guardian:

The United States won support Thursday for more pressure on Iran from two key European allies, France and Germany. Their leaders urged a continued push on Tehran over its nuclear program, saying the country remains a danger.

As the Bush administration lobbied world powers not to back down despite a new U.S. intelligence report that concludes Iran halted atomic weapons development in 2003, leaders of the two nations called for a two-pronged approach of pressure and negotiations with Iran.

``I think we are in a process and that Iran continues to pose a danger,'' German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Paris at a joint news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in response to the new American findings.

Merkel, whose coalition government has been noncommittal about a U.S.-led push for new U.N. sanctions on Iran, did not specifically support fresh punitive measures, but said, ``We and our partners would like to continue with the U.N. process.''

Sarkozy, who supports Washington's view, said he still backed new sanctions. ``The threat exists,'' he said.

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This seems to be counter to the predictions of how our allies would act after the new revelations about Iran's nuke program. It is an encouraging development that they recognize the threat.