Monday, July 10 2006 10:47 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: Warning Iran against stalling on the incentive package it has been offered in return for giving up its uranium enrichment programme, the United States today said Tehran will have to come out with an answer soon to avoid action by the UN Security Council.

"The Iranians are trying very hard not to give us a clear, unambiguous answer. The time has come for Iran to respond to the offer that was made on June 1 back in Vienna," the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns said.

"The Iranians need to understand that if can't answer this question clearly, there is another path available to us and that is to work in the Security Council, to increase pressure and action against the Iranian government," Burns, who is a top administration official, said during a Sunday Talk Show appearance.

"We offered them two paths negotiations or security council action. They can choose, but the time to choose has come," he remarked.

Maintaining that Iran has been 'fairly isolated', Burns said China, Russia and the European countries have all agreed that if Tehran cannot accept the conditional invitation for negotiations, they cannot suspend their nuclear programmes, they are going to face another path -actions at the Security Council.

Making the point that this situation was not available to the US some 15 or 24 months ago, he said, "The Iranians thought. They were going to be able to steam forward with their nuclear research activities. We are now creating a coalition to stop them from doing that."

"I think we are far better off in dealing with Iran now than we were just a couple of years ago," he said.