Deutsche Welle – German chancellor took a hard stance in her speech at the Munich Security Conference Saturday.
Germany’s Angela Merkel called on the world to stop Iran from going nuclear and controversially likened the threat of hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to that of the pre-war rise of Adolf Hitler.
"We want, we must prevent Iran from developing its nuclear program further," Merkel told top policymakers from around the world at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. "The concerns and fears over Iran’s nuclear program are legitimate" and the Islamic republic did not deserve to be shown "any tolerance" she added.
"The Iranian regime is today the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism," she said. "The world does not want, and must work together to prevent, a nuclear Iran."
In a controversial reference to the rise of the Nazis under Adolf Hitler in the 1930’s, Merkel said that Iran stood on the cusp of becoming a great threat if measures were not taken before it became too late. "Now we see that there were times when we could have acted differently. For that reason Germany is obliged … to make clear (to Iran) what is permissible and what isn’t."
Merkel, addressing an audience that included U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, had particularly harsh words for the Iranian president, who has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
Attitude of Iran means no tolerance from Germany
She condemned Ahmadinejad and said that "a president that questions Israel’s right to exist, a president that denies the Holocaust, cannot expect to receive any tolerance from Germany."
"Iran has blatantly crossed the red line," Merkel said.
Merkel’s speech came as the board of governors of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was preparing to vote on whether to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear program.
Europe and the United States suspect Iran of planning to build nuclear weapons. Tehran says its nuclear program is purely for civilian energy purposes.
Merkel says Iran still has a chance to avoid UN sanctions
Merkel said Iran still had a chance to avoid the sanctions which the Security Council could impose by accepting a Russian proposal to find a solution to its nuclear program.
Moscow has proposed allowing Iranian uranium enrichment to take place in Russia, thereby preventing Tehran from mastering sensitive nuclear technology. The German leader called on Iran to "consider carefully" the Russian proposal.
Merkel said Iran was a threat to Europe as well as Israel but made it clear that diplomacy rather than military action was the way to deal with the threat.
"Diplomatic avenues need to be exhausted. We need to keep our nerves, go step by step," she said.
