US President George W. Bush threatened Iran today with more sanctions if it failed to stop enriching uranium and said all options were on the table to thwart Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Mr Bush, who met German Chancellor Angela Merkel as part of his week-long tour of Europe before flying to Rome, is pressing allies to agree new punitive measures against Iran.
While Europeans have voiced support for new sanctions, they are also looking past Mr Bush, whose presidency ends in January.
"Both the chancellor and my first choice, of course, is to solve this diplomatically," Bush told a joint news conference with Ms Merkel.
But he added: "All options are on the table", a reference to the threat of military action to stop Iran's nuclear programme, which the West fears is aimed at making atomic bombs.
"The message to the Iranian government is very clear," said Mr Bush, visiting Europe for the last time before the end of his eight years in office.
Ms Merkel was more cautious, saying she could "not exclude" a further round of sanctions if Iran failed to cooperate and suspend enrichment work, which Tehran argues is for peaceful power generation.
With his approval ratings at home at the lows of his presidency and his domestic agenda largely blocked by an opposition-led Congress, Bush is trying to reassert his relevance on the world stage and forge a foreign policy legacy defined by more than the unpopular war in Iraq.
Iran's president said western pressure had failed to stop the advancement of its nuclear programme.
"With God's help today [the Iranian nation] have gained victory, and the enemies cannot do a damned thing," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech broadcast live on state television.
"They've tried by military threats . . . and political pressure to stop you from your luminous path but today they have seen that all their planning has failed," Mr Ahmadinejad said. "Today the Iranian nation is standing on the nuclear height."
The president added that Mr Bush's "era has ended" and that Iran's foes would not be able to "harm even a centimetre" of its territory.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana is expected to travel to Tehran in a few days to offer economic and other benefits to Iran if it gives up sensitive atomic work.
Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, has repeatedly ruled out suspending nuclear activities which it says are solely aimed at generating electricity but which the West suspects are a covert bid to make bombs.