German Chancellor Angela Merkel said here Saturday that her country sticks to a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear issue, but warned of further sanctions against the Gulf country if negotiations failed to produce good results in the end, Xinhua reported.
"We have diplomatic offers on the table ... we need to be ready for tougher sanctions," said Merkel at the 45th Munich Security Conference. "It is a must to stop Iran having nuclear weapons."
She said that it was important to see how the new U.S. administration looked at the Iranian issue, but that Germany was ready to cooperate with Washington.
In June 2008, Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany presented to Iran a new package of incentives, suggesting that Iran get a temporary reprieve from economic and financial sanctions in exchange for freezing its nuclear enrichment activities.
However, Iran said it would reject any nuclear deal offered by major world powers that demands a suspension of its uranium enrichment.
Washington and its allies have accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
In Munich, Merkel also said that "qualitative steps" are needed in international cooperation to shape globalization in a peaceful way, and talked of a new strategic concept, saying that everyone had to share responsibilities and no single country could act on major challenges alone.
She said the EU should get far more engaged disarmament discussions and must incorporate Russia into a new European security structure.