Bush issues Iran warning on farewell Europe tour

By Matt Spetalnick

ROME (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush threatened Iran on Wednesday with more sanctions if it failed to stop enriching uranium and said all options were on the table to thwart Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

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 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 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 Bush, visiting Europe for the last time before the end of his eight years in office.

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.