Bush, German chancellor Merkel discuss Iran

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Bush is eager to resolve the nuclear standoff with Tehran before his presidency ends. In talks with Merkel on Wednesday, and with other European leaders later in the week, Bush will be coaxing them to stand in solidarity against Iran and embrace tougher sanctions if the country doesn't stop its uranium enrichment program.

Global warming, Afghanistan and relations with Russia also were expected topics at Bush's meeting with Merkel at Schloss Meseberg, an elegant guest house of the German government about 50 miles north of Berlin.

Bush has close ties with Merkel, and has hosted her at his Texas ranch. But their relationship hit a bump at a recent NATO summit in Romania when they split over whether to give Georgia and Ukraine a path to membership in the alliance.

The two were all smiles, though, when the president arrived by helicopter at Schloss Meseberg to attend a social dinner Tuesday evening. As he and his wife, Laura, walked across a cobblestone plaza, a reporter asked him what he liked best about Germany. "The people," Bush said, "followed by the countryside."

Merkel and Bush likely engaged in more than small talk inside.

Before they agree to implement stiffer sanctions against Iran, Europeans want to see what happens when the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, visits Iran within days and offers a package of incentives in exchange for stopping its enrichment program. The offer, an updated version of one that Iran ignored a few years ago, was developed by the United States, along with Germany, Britain, France, Russia and China.

Following Bush's final US-EU summit Tuesday in Kranj, Slovenia, the leaders issued a joint declaration that said the United States and Europe "are ready to supplement those (previous) sanctions with additional measures" if Iran does not halt enrichment. It also said they would "work together ... to take steps to ensure Iranian banks cannot abuse the international banking system to support proliferation and terrorism."

It was unclear whether this second pledge meant Europeans had signed on for the kind of harsh measures the U.S. favors, such as prohibiting business with Iranian banks, or merely represented a repeat of previous calls for closer monitoring of dealings with them.

Bush's campaign for stronger sanctions has been bolstered by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

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