Rice wants "serious answer" from Iran

By Sue Pleming

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on Monday that it faced more sanctions if it defied a two-week deadline to agree to curb its nuclear program.

Rice said Iran was stalling and must give a "serious answer" within the deadline set by six world powers, which offered trade and technical incentives if Tehran halts its uranium enrichment. The West fears Iran wants to build a nuclear bomb.

"We are in the strongest possible position to demonstrate that if Iran does not act then it is time to go back to that (sanctions) track," Rice told reporters before arriving in Abu Dhabi en route to Asia.

It was her first comment on the subject since Washington broke from usual policy and joined nuclear talks with Iran in Geneva on Saturday.

In Jerusalem, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned Iran of growing isolation if it rejected the offer from the major powers.

"Iran has a clear choice to make: suspend its nuclear program and accept our offer of negotiations or face growing isolation and the collective response not just of one nation but of all nations around the world," Brown said.

He said Britain would continue, with its European partners and the United States, "in our determination to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapons program."

France's foreign ministry also said the "Iranian regime must choose between the path of cooperation and the prospect of growing isolation," adding that if Tehran pursues its enrichment activities "it will have to face new sanctions."

Rice said the United States would impose more bilateral sanctions on Iran and the Europeans would look at what they could do if Iran failed to meet the world powers' demand.

"The main thing is we will have to start considering what we do in New York," she said, referring to the U.N. Security Council which has imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran.

In Washington, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters that at the meeting the United States had "gained support for additional sanctions" and Iran's lack of a response "just proves, once again, that they're playing a game of stall tactics."

Envoys from the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain -- the so-called sextet of world powers -- attended the Geneva meeting as well as Iran.

IRANIAN ASSESSMENT

Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, said at the next meeting Iran would not discuss the demand to freeze its sensitive atomic work which the West fears is aimed at making bombs. Iran says its aims are peaceful.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave an upbeat assessment Sunday. "Any negotiation that takes place is a step forward," he told reporters, according to IRNA news agency.