Teheran's June announcement that it had resumed its program to create enriched uranium embarrassed diplomats from Germany, England and France who one year earlier had returned from Iran with a deal to stop what is widely believed to be a clandestine project to build nuclear weapons. On Thursday, they played their cards with the mullahs again -- this time meeting in Vienna and sweetening the pot with an offer to help Iran build a light water reactor that can't be used in bomb-making. The Iranians say they will agree not to build a bomb, but only if Europe and the US help them erect a civilian nuclear program. Teheran would also let the International Atomic Energy Agency manage its uranium imports. But there's a big problem: Washington isn't on board this time.

"The USA's refusal to participate in the European plan offers Teheran another opportunity to play Europe and the USA against each other," writes the daily Financial Times Deutschland. That's why Europe needs to get tough on Iran if Teheran doesn't agree to a deal, argues the left-of-center Sueddeutsche Zeitung. "Europe's troika is acting sensibly in its attempt to draw Iran away from its nuclear path," the Munich paper writes, "But if the answer to the offer is 'no', then Europe needs to make clear that its patience is at an end because a mullah power with a bomb is something that neither Israel, America nor Europe can allow."

The conservative Berlin daily Die Welt hinted at Teddy Roosevelt's famous quote in describing Europe's effort as offering gifts but carrying a Kalashnikov. The paper warns Europe must "make clear to Iran that its existence is at stake if it doesn't restrain its desire for the bomb." Otherwise, Teheran could "follow North Korea's example and secretly develop nuclear weapons whilst giving all sorts of guarantees." The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung expects tough negotiations and notes that Iran's ruling mullahs aren't easily scared into deals. Still, even if Iran doesn't budge, the FAZ doesn't believe the US will go as far as to take military action. "No one seriously believes Washington will get involved in a second Middle East adventure," the paper writes.

If the issue escalates to the UN Security Council as Washington desires, the financial daily Handelsblatt is optimistic the US and Europe will find unity. "If it comes to the imposition of sanctions -- and these in no way need to be limited to an oil embargo -- at the very least the Europeans and the Americans would be able to pull together."

Pulling together is something many Germans are hoping the European Parliament in Brussels will be able to do this week. The boxing match against justice commissioner candidate Rocco Buttiglione continued without a KO or any apparent progress. Future commission president Jose Barroso has offered to personally take all cases dealing with human rights or discrimination, since Buttiglione's anti-gay and anti-single mom remarks have made him unpalatable to parliament. But the factions in Strasbourg aren't biting. If Barroso fails to cut a deal, his entire commission could fall -- an undesirable specter that could throw the EU into a major crisis.