Bush, Merkel Meet in the Middle

Bush vowed to play nice with Iran today and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to mull more sanctions despite resistance to the notion in Germany, the BBC reports. Facing reporters on Bush's Texas ranch, the president backed diplomacy as a way to thwart Iran's nuke program. "We will continue to work together to solve this problem diplomatically, which means they will continue to be isolated," he said.

The US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany have all vowed to seek new sanctions against Iran—but Germany, a top Tehran trading partner, has resisted calls for unilateral sanctions against Iranian banks and other firms. Merkel said she would try to sway German business leaders. "We need to think about further possible sanctions" if Iran doesn't nix its nuke plans, Merkel said. (More George W. Bush stories.)