15 October 2007
Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel has backed calls for stronger sanctions against Iran ahead of her meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin, who is scheduled to travel on to Tehran later this week. The push for stronger sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear program has emerged as the theme likely to dominate the talks. In an interview with the ‘Die Welt’ newspaper, Merkel stressed that diplomacy was the way to solve the standoff with Tehran, but she also emphasized that further action would need to be taken if Iran refuses to budge. "We cannot close our eyes to the dangers," the German chancellor said, adding: "I believe that we need to solve the problem through diplomacy, but at the same time we must be prepared to enact further sanctions if Iran does not come around."
Before the meeting, Merkel stressed in her weekly podcast "the necessity of new sanctions" against Iran – a source of potential friction with Russia, which is sceptical about efforts in the UN Security Council to impose a third set of sanctions against Tehran for its refusal to halt its uranium enrichment program. Iran “is threatening the security of Israel which for me as German chancellor will never be negotiable. It threatens the region, Europe and the world. We must prevent that."
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