* Netanyahu seeks stronger international sanctions on Iran

* Israeli leader at odds with Europe over settlements

* Visit follows Netanyahu's new stance on Palestinian state

By Allyn Fisher-Ilan

JERUSALEM, June 22 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads on Tuesday to Europe, where he will urge tougher moves against Iran's nuclear programme and face opposition to his refusal to halt Jewish settlement expansion.

The trip to Rome and Paris follows Netanyahu's conditional endorsement, under U.S. pressure, of the internationally-backed goal of Palestinian statehood, a change of direction that Palestinians said fell short of their independence aspirations.

Israeli officials said Netanyahu planned to focus on what Israel sees as an Iranian quest for nuclear weapons in his talks with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Tuesday and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday.

"Words alone will not solve the problem, and actions are necessary," one of the officials said, giving a preview of what Netanyahu intends to tell the two leaders.

But the issue of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank could also loom large, as it did during Netanyahu's visit last month to Washington, where U.S. President Barack Obama pressed for a construction freeze.

Netanyahu wants to continue building in existing enclaves, citing a need to accommodate "natural growth" of settler families. A 2003 U.S.-sponsored peace "road map" calls for Israel to halt settlement activity, including "natural growth" and for Palestinians to rein in militants.

In Paris, Netanyahu meets on Thursday with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell about Washington's goal of resuming stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

SANCTIONS

Netanyahu, who took office in March at the head of a right-leaning government, has seized on the current post-election unrest in Iran to advocate stronger global sanctions against its government.

"Can we allow such a regime to acquire nuclear weapons? And the answer that we hear from far and wide is no," Netanyahu said on NBC television's Meet the Press programme on Sunday.

It would be "doubly right now" to leave all options on the table for halting Iran's atomic project, he said, alluding to the threat of a possible Israeli military strike.

Iran denies it is enriching uranium for military purposes, saying its nuclear development is aimed at generating electricity.

Israel's Mossad intelligence chief Meir Dagan said last week a world embargo had altered the course of Tehran's nuclear programme since 2003, but that Iran could have an atomic weapon by 2014 unless these steps were intensified.

Israel has said a nuclear-armed Iran would be a threat to its existence, noting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinjad's calls to destroy the Jewish state.

Experts say Israel is believed to possess the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, a subject on which it refuses comment.

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