What happens next? With Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad having rejected the European incentives package and the country now thumbing its nose at a United Nations Security Council deadline for ceasing its uranium enrichment activities, the international community is beginning the process of deciding what to do next. The deadline expires at the end of Thursday.

The United States and Europe appear to have agreed this week to push for low level sanctions like travel bans against Iranian government officials or bans on sales of duel-use technology to Iran. But questions remain as to whether Russia and China, both veto-wielding members of the Security Council, can be brought on board. Both countries continue to push for a negotiated solution to the standoff, though it is unclear that Ahmadinejad, despite comments earlier this week that he was ready for "serious talks," is in fact ready for earnest and honest negotiations. In a speech to a cheering crowd in northwestern Iran on Thursday, he said: "The Iranian nation will not succumb to bullying, invasion and the violation of its rights."

German commentators seem to be getting altogether tired of the subject with few papers giving much space on their Thursday editorial pages to the expiring deadline. Mass circulation Bild Zeitung, however, runs an interview with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Germany, while not a permanent member of the Security Council, has been taking a lead in efforts to bring Iran to the negotiating table. In the interview, Steinmeier indicates that the door to the conference room remains open. "When the country stops enriching uranium," Steinmeier said, "we are prepared to negotiate with Iran about broad cooperation and technical support. Our hand remains extended. We want a diplomatic solution."

Steinmeier also goes out of his way to make it clear that Iran does indeed have the right to a "peaceful use of atomic energy." But in recognizing that right, Steinmeier is only paving the way to express renewed doubts about Iran's nuclear program. "At the moment," he says, "Tehran can do nothing with enriched uranium -- unless it is planning to build the bomb. And we must prevent an Iranian atom bomb!" It also seems that the German foreign minister is beginning to lose his patience with President Ahmadinejad. Bild, as it is wont to do, tries to bait Steinmeier by asking: "Can one enter into reasonable negotiations with an anti-Semite and warmonger like President Ahmadinejad?" Steinmeier's response: "The discussions have of course become much more difficult since the swearing in of Ahmadinejad than they were under his predecessor. The current president wants to become the leader of the Islamic world -- his bizarre proposal for a televised debate with US President Bush demonstrates that once again."

Of course, it doesn't take a genius to see that Ahmadinejad is hardly the most clear-headed of individuals. And conservative daily Die Welt also pokes fun at Ahmadinejad's television challenge issued to Bush. But the paper elects not to continue the saber-rattling tone it has struck in recent days and instead attempts an all-encompassing analysis of the situation. First off, the paper argues that sanctions could indeed be designed in such a way as to hurt Iran. While the country has a lot of oil, it doesn't have a lot of refineries, meaning that it imports massive amounts of gasoline from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Furthermore, it relies on Western know-how as it begins expanding its own refinery network. "Sanctions in this sector would slow down the country's economic development, not to mention cause a sharp increase in unemployment which is already some 40 percent."

But a long-term solution to the problem has to take into account Iran's foreign policy goals, the paper convincingly argues. The 1980s war with Iraq -- which cost the country 1 million young lives -- traumatized the country, as did Saddam Hussein's gassing of 50,000 Iranian soldiers. "'Never again' has since then become the motto of the country's deterrence and retaliation strategy." And Iran's foreign policy has become focused on expanding its influence in the region -- especially among neighboring states. And, of course, acquiring the bomb. Which means, according to commentator Maximilian Terhalle, the best way to counter Iran is for the US to offer it security guarantees and convince Iran that it's not in the process of turning Iraq -- or Israel -- into an advance military base. "The 'Great Satan' has to break open the regime by using its own logic."