Iran has weeks to settle nuclear dispute, says Rice

The Guardian:

Associated Press in Washington

Monday June 5, 2006

The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, yesterday warned that the incentives offered by the west to Iran to end its nuclear programme were not open-ended, but declined to say whether Tehran had a firm deadline to respond.

"I'm not one for timelines, but we do have to have this settled over a matter of weeks, not months," she said. The US, Britain, Germany, France, China and Russia agreed last Thursday to offer Iran incentives to give up uranium enrichment, and to punish it if it refused. "No one among these six powers is prepared to let this drag out," she said.