Rice: Iran must respond in `a matter of weeks'

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice put Iran on notice Sunday that the incentives offered by the West to end its nuclear program are not open-ended; although she declined to say Tehran had a firm deadline to respond. "I'm not one for timelines and specific schedules, but I think it's fair to say that we really do have to have this settled over a matter of weeks, not months," Rice said. Asked whether the US and its allies expected an answer by mid-July when the world's economic powers attend a summit in Russia, Rice said, "We'll see where we are at that time." "No one among these six powers is prepared to let this simply drag out with Iran continuing to make progress on its nuclear program," she said.