Rice Warns Iran It Risks Further U.N. Sanctions - washingtonpost.com

Rice Warns Iran It Risks Further U.N. Sanctions - washingtonpost.com: "Rice Warns Iran It Risks Further U.N. Sanctions
Report Finds Continued Nuclear Defiance

By Colum Lynch and Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, February 23, 2007; A01

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 22 -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on Thursday that it will face further punishment and isolation if it forges ahead with efforts to develop a uranium-enrichment program, but she said the United States and other powers are prepared to restart talks aimed at ending the standoff if Iran suspends its most controversial nuclear activities.

The remarks came hours after the International Atomic Energy Agency issued a report saying Iran has defied yet another U.N. Security Council demand to halt its most sensitive nuclear activities. R. Nicholas Burns, undersecretary of state for political affairs, plans to travel to London on Monday to press Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany to slap additional penalties on Iran.

'We have the common goal to encourage Iran back to the bargaining table,' Rice said after a meeting in Berlin with her counterparts from Russia, Germany and the European Union. 'The hope is that the sanctions show the Iranians the isolation that they are enduring, that isolation is likely to increase over time and that it is time to take a "