Bush says Iran too slow to respond to nuclear plan

VIENNA, June 21 (Reuters) U S President George W. Bush said Iran today was taking too long to say whether it will suspend nuclear work that could lead to the development of atomic weapons and warned North Korea not to test-fire a long-range missile.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had said earlier today that Tehran would respond by August 22 to a proposal by major powers for incentives in return for Iran abandoning its uranium enrichment programme.

Bush said that looked like ''an awful long time'' for Iran to respond to the offer which was presented on June 6.

''It should not take the Iranians that long to analyse what is a reasonable deal,'' Bush told a news conference after talks in Vienna with European Union leaders.

Bush has previously said Iran should have weeks, not months, to come up with an answer.

Six powers - the United States, Britain, Germany, France, China and Russia - have set an informal deadline of mid-July, when a Group of Eight industrialised nations summit is planned.

Bush also warned North Korea today against test-firing its long-range Taepodong-2 missile, saying it must abide by international agreements.

''North Koreans have made agreements with us in the past and we expect them to keep their agreements,'' Bush said.

Washington says there is evidence North Korea might test-fire the Taepodong-2 and has activated its ground-based interceptor missile-defence system in case Pyongyang goes ahead with a launch.

''WHAT'S PAST IS PAST'' Bush urged Europeans to move from the widespread resentment in the continent to the war in Iraq in 2003 and support the U.S.-led efforts to stabilise the country.

''I fully understand we have had our differences on Iraq. I can understand the difficulties but what's past is past and what is ahead is a hopeful democracy in the Middle East,'' he said.

The summit also touched on differences between the United States and Europe on issues such as the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba and U S visa requirements for many eastern European countries.

On Guantanamo, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel - whose government holds the rotating EU presidency - welcomed a reiteration by Bush that he wanted to close the camp eventually but stressed the importance of the issue to Europe.

''The problem is, and I will be very frank on that, we can only have a victory in the fight against terror if we don't undermine our common values,'' Schuessel said.

On a row between Washington and Brussels on global trade negotiations, both Bush and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said they believed a successful deal was still possible, despite several missed deadlines.

''The point is we are committed to a successful round and it is going to take hard work,'' Bush said.

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