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SHANNON-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice accused Iran on Monday of using stalling tactics and warned Tehran it faced more sanctions if it flouted a two-week deadline to curb its nuclear program.Rice said Iran must give a "serious answer" within the deadline laid down by the six world powers to an offer of trade and technical incentives to halt uranium enrichment. "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 said in her first comments after Washington broke from usual policy and joined nuclear talks with Iran in Geneva on Saturday.Rice, speaking to reporters on her way to Abu Dhabi en route to Asia, 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 Security Council which has already imposed three rounds of sanctions on Iran.Envoys from the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany and Britain-the so-called sextet of world powers-attended the Geneva meeting. Prospects of ending the row looked dim as Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said Iran would not discuss a demand to freeze sensitive atomic work the West fears is aimed at making bombs at the next meeting. Iran says its aims are peaceful.But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave an upbeat assessment on Sunday. "Any negotiation that takes place is a step forward," he told reporters, according to IRNA.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah....
