US President George W. Bush said Wednesday that his first choice is to resolve the nuclear standoff with Iran by using diplomacy, but “all options are on the table.” But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Bush's era “has come to an end” and he has failed in his goals to attack Iran and stop its nuclear program. Ahmadinejad, addressing thousands of people in the central Iranian city of Shahr-e-Kord, also described the US president as “wicked.” “This wicked man desires to harm the Iranian nation. (Bush) made plans, moved into Afghanistan and then Iraq, and announced that Iran was the third target,” he said. “I tell him (Bush) ... your era has come to an end. With the grace of God, you won't be able to harm even one centimeter of the sacred land of Iran,” he said. The US president reinforced the possibility of a military strike against Iran, even as a last resort, during a news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Bush warned that a nuclear-armed Iran would be a danger to world peace, and he is rallying European allies to back sanctions. Bush repeated his stance that no options were ruled out in trying to get Iran to drop its nuclear ambitions. At a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he said “my first choice is to solve this diplomatically, but all options are on the table.” Merkel said if Iran does not agree to suspend its enrichment program, additional sanctions would be needed. “The offer has been put on the table to Iran, but ... if Iran does not meet its commitments, then further sanctions will simply have to follow,” she said.
