Rice holds out possible meeting with Iranians

VIENNA, June 2 (Reuters) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held out the possibility today that she would meet Iranian officials if Tehran halts atomic fuel work and agrees to talks with major powers.

As a senior Iranian nuclear official insisted his country would press on with its nuclear work, the White House urged the Iranian government to study carefully a package of incentives aimed at limiting its nuclear ambitions before formally responding.

Rice, speaking in a series of interviews with US media, added that Iran faced a ''moment of truth,'' with Russia and China now in full support of robust penalties for Tehran if it does not scale back its nuclear program.

UN Security Council permanent members plus Germany finalised yesterday in Vienna a package of incentives for Iran if it gives up potentially weapons-related nuclear work.

Failure to agree would see Iran face ''robust measures,'' Rice said.

A meeting with Rice would be the highest-level face-to-face contact between US and Iranian officials since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Washington cut ties with Iran in 1980.

''It depends of course on what Iran does,'' she said in an interview with National Public Radio.

''If Iran is prepared to verifiably suspend its program and enter into negotiations, then we'll determine the level (of representation) but I wouldn't be at all surprised if the ministers meet at some point,'' she said.

In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Snow said European officials will give Iranian officials a detailed presentation of the incentives in the next couple of days and that a formal response was hoped for within a matter of weeks.

In response to the Iranian official's insistence that Tehran will not give up uranium enrichment, Snow said: ''As we've said, we think it's fair to give the government of Iran an opportunity to review carefully everything in the package.

We understand people may make statements, but we want to give them time to study this.'' Snow would not divulge details of the package, saying it has not been presented to Iran yet.

MORE REUTERS SRS RK2051