No more proof is needed that the crucial task of preventing the Iranian terror-sponsoring theocrats from getting the A-bomb is too important to delegate to France and Germany than the exchange in the past few days between President Bush and the German chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder. This followed Mr. Bush’s recent interview with Israeli television, when he asserted that America and Israel “are united in our objective to make sure that Iran does not have a weapon.” Mr. Bush went on to say that in “this particular instance, the E.U.- 3 – Britain, France, and Germany – have taken the lead, been helping to send the message, a unified message to the Iranians.” Later in the interview, the president pointedly declined to rule out the use of force against Iran.

No sooner had the radio waves reached Berlin, however, than Herr Schroeder, who is in the middle of a tough re-election campaign, responded with what amounted to a trans-Atlantic insult. “Take the military options off of the table; we have seen that they’re not suitable,” Mr. Schroeder said Saturday, according to a report from Berlin by the Associated Press. So much for Mr. Bush’s attempt to send a “unified message.”

A German government under the leadership of Angela Merkel, who leads the Christian Democratic Party, might be more supportive of America than Herr Schroeder and his Social Democrats. But why put a vital American security interest like depriving nuclear weapons to the world’s top state sponsor of terrorism in the hands of German voters? If it were up to the Germans, Saddam Hussein would still be running Iraq. American voters elected Mr. Bush over Senator Kerry in part because they knew Mr. Bush wouldn’t give the French or Germans a veto over American security. Herr Schroeder’s comments, along with Iran’s recent unsealing of its uranium conversion plant in Isfahan, underscore the need for Mr. Bush to take Germany and France out of the lead on this issue, before it’s too late.