Bush seeking EU resolve on Iran

Vienna: US President George W Bush, hoping to capitalize on improving ties with Europe, will urge European leaders on Wednesday not to ease up on the possible use of sanctions against Iran.

But his key allies complained before an EU-US summit that he remains too heavy-handed in his focus on security and said global trade talks would die without further concessions from Washington.

Bush has yet to regain the confidence of many Europeans after the 2003 invasion of Iraq split the continent. From the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba to strict US visa requirements, Europeans are frustrated that the US is still showing too little consideration towards its trans-Atlantic partners.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso kept up the calls on Bush to take a less hardline approach to security. "We risk losing our souls," he told the International Herald Tribune newspaper in an interview published on Wednesday, hours before the summit in Vienna.

"We are committed to the fight against terrorism. But if we we surpress civil rights and civil liberties because we are fighting terrorists, that would be a victory for the terrorists," he said, referring also to reports of collusion by EU governments in alleged CIA abductions of terror suspects.

In a gesture towards the EU's concerns, the US appeared ready to sign a summit declaration with a reference to respect for human rights in the fight against terrorism.

"Consistent with our common values, we will ensure that measures taken to combat terrorism comply fully with our international obligations, including human rights law, refugee law and international humanitarian law," said a draft version of the declaration, which was obtained by Reuters.

Bush will underline that the US and Europe must not ease up on Iran and should ensure that the threat of punishment such as sanctions remains real.

Washington has said it will join European talks with Tehran that are conditional on Iran giving up uranium enrichment - a step in the production of nuclear weapons - in return for an offer of incentives.

"If Iran does not accept this offer then we return to the UN Security Council. That's all part of the way forward," White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley told reporters travelling with Bush to Vienna on Air Force One.