BOI (Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel will use a visit to the U.S. starting today to stress that her government stands united with President George W. Bush in efforts to halt Iran's suspected nuclear-weapons program.

Merkel, 51, will address the annual meeting of the American Jewish Committee in Washington tomorrow. She'll express in ``clear terms'' that international consensus on action is the ``right approach'' to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear arms, Karsten Voigt, the German Foreign Ministry's adviser on U.S. relations, said in an interview yesterday.

``Germany is already playing an integral role in the Iran diplomacy,'' said Voigt, 65. Merkel's meeting with Bush ``is important for the course of action and should help clarify the next steps.''

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By Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor

The Times - BRITAIN, France and Germany will prepare today the text of a UN Security Council resolution aimed at forcing Iran to halt its controversial uranium enrichment programme or face sanctions.

The Iranians would probably be given a new deadline to comply or face the likelihood of sanctions in a follow-up resolution.

“We believe now is the time to move ahead on a Chapter VII resolution,” Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, said, adding that such a move had “the force of international law to compel the regime to change its behaviour”.

The biggest obstacle facing the Europeans and their American allies is resistance from Russia and China, both permanent members of the Security Council with the power of veto. Moscow and Beijing have important trade relations with Iran and want to avoid any move that could harm those ties. Nevertheless, the calculation in Western capitals is that neither country would dare to use its veto power to side with Iran against the rest of the international community.
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The Sun, London - The world has three options as it faces the terrifying prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran.

It can watch the mullahs build nukes and hold the world to ransom.

It can denounce American aggression- while secretly counting on the world's only superpower to ride to everyone's rescue.

Or it can encourage the Iranian people themselves to topple the fanatics who threaten global Armageddon.

Since no world leader, including President George Bush, wants a US strike, the safest bet is to encourage an already seething domestic resistance.

Yet Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has ruled it out, leaving us with one nightmare vision – a tyrannical regime ready and willing to wage nuclear war.

He rejects the use of American force as "inconceivable." But in an act of appeasement that has enraged MPs of all parties, he has barred Iran's only real internal resistance, the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI).

He upholds the distorted EU view that they are "terrorists" – simply because Tehran says they are.
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The Sunday Telegraph - A country that masters enrichment will have the capacity to manufacture nuclear weapons. Teheran says its programme is a peaceful effort to generate electricity, but the West is convinced that it is secretly trying to build an atomic bomb.

After disclosing details of Iran's P2 programme, Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI leader, told The Sunday Telegraph: "There is no doubt that the clerical regime is only interested in deceiving the world community and the IAEA, in order to buy time and obtain nuclear weapons. There is no room for appeasement toward this regime."

Mr Ahmadinejad insisted yesterday that Teheran would "never" renounce its nuclear programme. "Iran's decision to master nuclear technology and the production of nuclear fuel is irreversible."

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The Associated Press - Supporters of the Iranian opposition and resistance cheer with the release of confetti near the United Nations, as they learn that the Belgium government plans to reconsider its Iran policy, Friday April 28, 2006 in New York.

Protesters are calling on the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions on Iran which defied a deadline to stop uranium enrichment and becoming a potential nuclear threat.

James Hackett, The Washington times

BOI - Some observers ask, why not just let Iran go nuclear? The answer is that nuclear weapons in the hands of the mullahs would be the most dangerous combination since the dawn of the nuclear age -- a nuclear-armed state with ballistic missiles led by religious zealots. It would be a serious threat to world peace and to the very survival of the 6 million people, Jews and Arabs alike, who live in Israel.

At a recent conference in support of the Palestinian government led by Hamas, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel "is heading toward annihilation." Coupling this talk with his announcement Iran had successfully enriched uranium, Mr. Ahmadinejad made clear the intent of the Iranian leadership to destroy Israel.

It is not an idle threat. Iran is not a minor sheikdom. With more than 66 million people and an area larger than California, Texas, New York, Michigan and Ohio combined, it is a major country with a long history. Just as Cyrus the Great created the Persian Empire there 2,500 years ago, the ayatollahs now seek to create a Shi'ite empire that will dominate the Middle East. Tehran already is using its vast oil wealth to support the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon and promises support for Hamas in Palestine. But to dominate its Arab neighbors, Iran must demonstrate its power by destroying their mutual enemy, Israel.
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